
Class. 
Book. 



^to? 



GopyiigM]^?- 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSm 



HEALTH AND HAPPINESS 

A MESSAGE TO GIRLS 



HEALTH AND 
HAPPINESS 

A MESSAGE TO GIRLS 



ELIZA M. MOSHER, M.D. 

leinher American Medical Association ; Lecturer on Special 
Anatomi/, Physiology and Hygiene for JVoinen, Chautauqua 
School of Physical Education; Formerly Resident Physi- 
cian to Massachusetts State Reformatory Prison for 
Women; Professor of Physiology and Resident 
Physician, Vassar College; Women's Dean 
and Professor of Hygiene, University 
of Michigan; Lecturer on 
Hygiene, Adelphi College, 
Brooklyn, etc. 



ILLUSTRATED BT HELEN MULHERON 




FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY 

NEW YORK AND LONDON 

1912 






Copyright, 1912, by 

FUXK & WAGNALLS COMPANY 

(Printed in the United States of America) 

Published, July, 1912 



gCI.A319139 



To 
ALL GIRLS 

WHOSE AMBITION IS TO LEAD A HAPPY, 
HEALTHFUL, USEFUL LIFE, I AFFEC- 
TIONATELY DEDICATE THESE 
LETTERS CONCERNING 

A GIRL'S WELFARE 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Foreword xi 

Preface . xiii 

Introduction xv 

Letter One. — Newburyport^ Mass 1 

Letter Two. — Hampton Falls^ N. H 11 

Letter Three. — Portsmouth^ N. H 27 

Letter Four. — York^ Me 39 

Letter Five. — Portland^ Me 59 

Letter Six. — St. John_, New Brunswick ... 73 

Letter Seven. — Digbt^ Nova Scotia 93 

Letter Eight. — Halifax^ Nova Scotia .... Ill 

Letter Nine. — Wolfville^ Nova Scotia .... 127 

Letter Ten. — Jaffrey^ N. H 157 

Letter Eleven. — Jaffrey^ N. H 183 

Letter Twelve. — Brooklyn,, N. Y. . . . . . . 197 



ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

Round Shoulders and Flat Chest 5 

"Right Foot Twist" of Author 6 

Perfect Symmetry in Trees 14 

Perfect Symmetry in Architecture 16 

Perfect Symmetiy of Body 18 

Shape of Body and Position of Bones in Nonnal 

Poise .20 

Round Shoulders and Flat Chest 33 

"Right Foot Twist" 35 

Correct Posture 35 

Curve Which Spine Assumes in Carrying Books 

Under One Arm 43 

Shape of Body and Position of Bones in "Right 

Foot Twist" 45 

"Head High" .53 

A Perfectly Symmetrical Back, Body in Nor- 
mal Poise 54 

One of the Postures that Produces Round 

Shoulders and Flat Chest 56 

Round Shoulders in the Making 56 

Bad Sitting Posture 57 

Correct Sitting Posture 57 

Mosher Kindergarten Chair 58 

Cartilege Tissue Cells 62 

Fat Cells 62 

Epithelial Cells, Fibrous Tissue Cells .... 63 

Cells 63 



ILLUSTRATIONS 

TAGE 

Epithelial Cells 64 

Elastic Tissue (Highly Magnified) 64 

Capillary Blood- Vessel and Red Blood Cells . . ijo 

Capillary Blood- Vessel in Relation to Cells . . 65 

A Liver Lobule 67 

Lung Tissue (Highly Magnified) 78 

Air-sacs Surrounded by Capillaries 78 

Kidney Tubules 81 

Human Kidney, Cut Open Lengthwise .... 83 

Diagram of the Digestive Organs 86 

A Transverse Section of the Skm ...... 97 

Gland in the Skin of Face, its Orifice filled with 

Dirt, Making the So-called "Black Heads" . . 103 
Telephone-like Receiver on Sensoiy Xerve at 

Finger Tip 130 

A Nerve Split Lengthwise 131 

Diagram of the Spinal Cord and Brain .... 132 

Diagram of Human Brain 139 

Dog's Brain 139 

A Motor Nerve . . . . 141 

A Nerve-Cell 143 

Brain Paths 144 

A Secreting Gland in the Mucous Membrane 

Lining of the Stomach 151 

The Story 167 

The Story 169 

The Organs of Reproduction 172 

Ciliated Epithelial Cells from Lining of Fal- 
lopian Tubes 177 



FOREWORD 

Every teacher of girls is confronted with 
the need of her pupils for adequate in- 
struction in personal hygiene, and yet 
there is probably no subject in which 
teachers are less well fitted through pro- 
fessional training. 

Dr. Mosher is peculiarly qualified to 
assist both teachers and pupils in this 
field. Holding for years a position of dis- 
tinction in the medical profession, having 
intimate association with young \v'omen, 
as instructor in one women's college and 
''Dean of Women" in another, training 
teachers through many successive seasons 
in the ''Chautauqua Summer School of 
Physical Education," and possest of a 
rare talent for friendship, whereby she 
has come intimately into the lives of hun- 
dreds of girls and young women — Dr. 



FOREWORD 

Mosher knows not only their needs, but 
how to interest and approach them. 

Never has the health of women been put 
to such great tests as in the present era 
of social evolution. Whether seeking it 
or not, practically every woman to-day 
feels the intense pressure of an enlarging, 
rushing, and complicated life. Her en- 
durance and adaptability are challenged 
to the utmost, whether her life be purely 
domestic, whether it reaches out to the 
interests of the community, or whether it 
takes her into professional activities. Will 
she be equal to the strain? Can she carry 
her part with sweetness, and cheerfulness, 
and the poise of spirit that exists only 
with a good physique? The answer will 
depend immeasurably on her use of such 
teaching as this book gives. 

Jessie H. Bakckoft, 

Assistant Director Physical Training, 
Public Scliools, New York City. 



PEEFACE 

Deak Gikls: 

Some years ago a girl friend of 
mine went to Dr. Moslier for advice. 
She had headache a great deal; she was 
awkward, had bad breath, and was gener- 
ally too wretched to do her school work. 
She did not need medicine, she needed 
advice. Dr. Mosher taught her how to 
stand and walk, and to live so that she 
was both stronger and healthier, her di- 
gestion good and her breath sweet. She 
was nice all through. 

This set of letters from Dr. Mosher has 
in it what this girl learned. It is true, 
sincere, important, and not in the least 
cranky or over emphasized. I hope that 
you will read it, and that you will like 
and profit by it. 

With best wishes, 

LUTHEE H. GULICK. 



INTRODUCTION 

To Mothers: 

Dear Friends — 

My object in writing this short 
series of letters lias been to impress upon 
girls and young women the great import- 
ance of an intelligent management of the 
human body. 

You and I remember how difficult it 
was for us to understand, when we were 
young, why our mothers and teachers 
tried so hard to guard our health, and 
how rebellious we felt when they curtailed 
our activities in order to protect it. Some 
girls, who were not thus carefully watched 
over, had many hard lessons to learn in 
the school of experience. 

The persuasive power of knowledge re- 
garding the structure and functions of the 
various parts of the human body is very 



INTRODUCTION 

great; because of this I have based my 
teaching upon it in these letters. It is 
my desire to convince girls of the import- 
ance not only of becoming familiar with 
the laws under which the body does its 
work, but also of forming the habit of 
considering these laws in making the 
daily choices and decisions by which all 
lives are shaped. 

To you, Mothers, whose desire and high 
privilege it is to start your children on 
the road of life with all the helpful habits 
possible, I would like to write a few sug- 
gestive words regarding some of the sub- 
jects considered in these letters to girls. 

In reference to body symmetry: most 
children retain until the age of six or 
seven the perfect body shape with which 
they were endowed by nature ; with a little 
careful home training they ne^d not lose 
this symmetry. May I suggest that at 
the age of four of five you should begin 



INTRODUCTION 

with what I call my "One, two, three, 
four position drill"? You will find the 
rules in the latter part of the fourth 
letter. Make a little home play of it, 
which if often repeated, will cause them 
to form the habit of correct standing, 
sitting and walking. To this may be 
added a march through the house, up 
stairs and down, with a light book resting 
upon the head; let them sit down, rise, 
and even run without allowing it to fall; 
it is well frequently and carefully to 
measure their height, and by placing a 
mark on the wall, showing gain, as an 
incentive to children to keep the body 
erect and the head high. If their father 
would occasionally ask them to show what 
you mean by "position" and express ap- 
proval it would stimulate them to greater 
effort in this direction. 

Never tell a girl to "throw the shoul- 
ders back." Even to tell her to "raise 



INTRODUCTION 

the chest'' is unsafe, because in attempt- 
ing to do either she is likely to thrust the 
spine too far backward at its upper part, 
thus exaggerating the lumbar curve and 
producing a weak back. Instead, direct 
her to raise the head high (chin in), and 
at the same time drop the pelvis a little 
in front. With the good-bye kiss, as 
she starts for school, the command "po- 
sition" should often be given, not only to 
the little kindergarten child, but also to 
girls and boys through all the years of 
school life. 

I can not too earnestly urge upon you 
the importance of providing a home study 
table and chair suited to the height of 
each child, and that a book-rest be also 
provided to prevent dropping the head 
and chest forward while studying. If 
you can not buy such a "rest" the child's 
father or older brother can make one that 
will answer the purpose. The light should 



INTRODUCTION 

strike the book from tlie left side or over 
the shoulder, and it should be strong 
enough to prevent eye strain. The room 
in which children prepare their lessons 
should be cool and quiet, and they should 
not be allowed to interrupt one another 
during study. Much nervous energy is 
wasted through lack of care in these 
things. 

I need not urge upon you the import- 
ance of long nights of undisturbed slum- 
ber during the school life of girls and 
boys. It is during those years that bones 
and muscles are lengthening, and internal 
organs enlarging, and the consequent strain 
upon the body is very great. Plenty of 
nutritious, easily digested food is needed 
to maintain the nutrition of the fast mul- 
tiplying body cells, so do not be afraid 
to feed your children well. 

It is not generally known that the after 
results of infectious diseases, measles, 



INTRODUCTION 

mumps, Tvhooping cougli, etc., are likely to 
be especially harmful to girls and boys 
during the years between twelve and fif- 
teen. If these diseases are contracted, 
great care shonld be taken to make the 
convalescence complete. Grirls especially 
should not resume school work until suf- 
ficient time has elapsed for the pelvic or- 
gans to recover their nutrition and normal 
tone. 

The storms of emotion so common in 
the young are harmful to both brain and 
body, and should therefore be averted 
whenever possible. If they can not be 
prevented, the boy or girl should be con- 
trolled firmly, and if necessary, force- 
fully, in order to relieve the nervous 
system of overstrain. 

An unreserved intimacy between your- 
self and your children, both boys and 
girls, is ideal. It should begin in early 
childhood, and be guarded with zealous 

XX 



INTRODUCTION 

care during adolescence, for at that time 
more than at any other it is needed, yet 
most likely to be lost. When questions 
are asked regarding the beginnings of 
life, it is important to answer them di- 
rectly and truthfully, but only such parts 
of the story should be told as are adapted 
to the age and understanding of the ques- 
tioner. Anticipate the teaching of the 
playmates of your boys and girls on sex 
subjects. Never permit them to hear for 
the first time the beautiful story of 
motherhood from any lips but your own. 
I would say the same regarding the teach- 
ing of spiritual truths. This also is one 
of the high privileges belonging to you 
that you should not yield to another. 

I have not attempted in these letters 
to consider any subject exhaustively. Re- 
membering my own girlhood, I have en- 
deavored to tell some of the things which 
I now know would have been useful to me 



INTRODUCTION 

could I have been told them. If, with 
your endorsement, my teaching shall prove 
helpful to the girls who so soon must 
take our places on life's stage, I shall 
consider my vacation hours well spent. 
Most sincerely the friend of all mothers, 

Eliza M. Mosher. 



Letter One 
NEWBURYPORT, MASSACHUSETTS 



HEALTH AND HAPPINESS 



Letter One 
Newburypokt, Massachusetts. 
My Dear Girls: 

For a long time I have been wish- 
ing to write some letters to you in which 
I could tell you things about the human 
body and the needs of girls. They are 
things that I now know would have been 
helpful to me if they had been told me 
when I was a girl. 

With two friends I am planning to take 
an interesting trip this summer, and, be- 
cause I can find no time for it otherwise, 
I have promised myself to write you a 
letter from each of our stopping places. 
I doubt if I shall be able to write about 
the places we visit, but my pleasure in 
seeing them may give an atmosphere to 



HEALTH AND HAPPINESS 

my letters, ^hicli I hope Tvill help to make 
them interesting. If I did not love yonng 
girls and wish very mneh to he of use 
to them, yon may be snre I would not 
attempt to steal time during my summer 
vacation to write letters to you. 

In the first letters I shall explain "Na- 
ture's Plan" for keeping the human body 
symmetrical, healthy and attractive, be- 
cause that is one of the very first things 
you all need to know. I am sorry to say 
that mothers and teachers who are so wise 
in other respects, do not all know this 
''plan" or how simple is the teaching- 
required to keep young people in good 
bodily shape. It is a more serious and far- 
reaching misfortune than is generally un- 
derstood for a girl or boy to acquire 
round shoulders and a flat chest, with the 
forward poked head that always accom- 
13anies this shape; almost as bad in 
effect upon the body is the low shoulder, 
4 




LETTER ONE 

high hip and head-on-one-side figure so 
common among school girls. Both shapes 
are due to bad habits 
of posture in standing 
and sitting, and the sad 
thing about it is that 
when such habits are 
once acquired they are 
likely to continue 
through life. In addi- 
tion to their harmful 
influence upon the 
health, such shapes oft- 
en become a hindrance 
to social and professional advancement 
later in life. ''Has the applicant any per- 
sonal peculiarities?" is on every list of 
questions sent out by teachers' agencies 
for the purpose of ascertaining the fitness 
of those applying for positions. This 
question indicates the desirability of finely 
shaped bodies in addition to well devel- 
5 



Courtesy of 
Roth, M.D., London. 
FIG. 1 

Round shoulders and 
flat chest from habit of 
dropping pelvis low at 
back in standing, sitting 
and walking. 



HEALTH AND HAPPINESS 

oj)ed intellects for the 
profession of teach- 
ing. 

I suppose you will 
scarcely believe me 
when I tell you that 
I worked several 
years to discover and 
formulate this ' ' plan ' ' 
of nature to keep the 
body shapely. It 
seems so simple and 
obvious when under- 
stood that one won- 
ders why everybody 
has not always known 
it. 

When I had found out the secret I 
wished to be sure that I was not mistaken, 
so I told it to a body of medical men and 
women, because you know doctors never 
believe anything unless you can prove its 




Bernard Roth, M.D., London 

FIG. 2 

"Right Foot Twist" of 

Author 



LETTER ONE 

truth to them. To my great satisfaction, 
they said that the ''plan'' was certainly 
Nature's own, and therefore correct, and 
its teaching very important. I next told 
it to a number of gymnasium teachers, 
men and women who were giving all their 
time to developing and strengthening the 
bodies of boys and girls. They also said 
this was indeed Nature's scheme for keep- 
ing the human body symmetrical and 
beautiful, so cheating old Father Time out 
of the bent spines and hobbling steps 
which in the past, yes, and present, too, 
he has been so fond of bestowing upon 
the aged. 

I have explained the "plan" to hun- 
dreds of women in Mothers' Clubs and in 
other places, showing them school chil- 
dren by the dozen as round shouldered 
and crooked, as badly constructed seats 
and bad habits of posture could make 
them. In a few minutes under simple 
7 



HEALTH AND HAPPINESS 

instruction the children for the moment 
regained their lost symmetry and showed 
how easily correct habits of posture would 
make the change permanent. I gave those 
mothers the rules for standing, sitting 
and walking that I shall give you later, 
and it is to be hoped they taught them 
to their children. 

I have derived the most satisfaction, 
however, from seeing over-sensitive boys 
and girls, and grown women, too, who 
were not physically strong, gain in health 
and physical strength as well as in good 
looks and self-assurance as the result of 
a short course of training. 

I am inclined to believe that most fast- 
growing children are self-conscious and 
more or less physically unhappy between 
the ages of thirteen and fifteen. The un- 
favorable criticisms which they constantly 
hear regarding themselves and the unwise 
advice often given, make them grow more 
8 



LETTER ONE 

crooked in body, morbid in mind and 
sensitive in soul. It had that effect upon 
me when I was young, and put me out 
of harmony with life in general and with 
myself in particular. It was the memory 
of those growing years which made me 
determine that I would find out why girls 
get round shouldered, awkward and sensi- 
tive, and help to prevent it as far as I 
could. 

Do you understand now, girls, why I 
am writing to you, and how much I want 
you not only to read my letters, but to 
put into immediate use every direction I 
give you? A\nien you have yourselves 
acquired right habits of posture and have 
made your own bodies straight and sym- 
metrical, I want you to teach others to do 
the same — first by your example and then 
by giving them the instruction I am going 
to give you in these letters. 



9 



Letter Two 
HAMPTON FALLS, NEW HAMPSHIRE 



11 



Letter Two 
Hamptoit Falls, New Hampshike. 

My Dear Girls: 

These old elm trees in New Eng- 
land are magnificent. I have been asking 
myself the question, why are they so much 
more beautiful than other trees? It is 
not because of the greenness of their 
leaves, for they are almost as beautiful 
when bare in winter. It is not because 
of their massiveness, for other trees are 
as large and sturdy as elms. I think it 
must be their fine proportion and s^th- 
metry. The exact balance of material in 
their great trunk-like branches produces 
a counterpoise which satisfies the eye of 
the beholder. A^Hien a limb has fallen, or 
close proximity to other trees causes un- 
13 







Courtesy of The Woodlury E. Runt Company, Concord, N. E. 
FIG. 3. — PERFECT SYMMETRY IN TREES 



14 



LETTER TWO 

equal growth, the elm loses its great 
beauty. 

For the same reason the Church of the 
Madeleine, in Paris, delights all who see 
it; its height and breadth seem exactly 
proportionate; its pillars just the right 
size to support the massive roof, and 
there is not one too many nor one too few. 
Architecturally it holds the place among 
churches that the elm occupies among 
trees, and for the same reasons. 

Beauty in animal forms depends far 
more on proportion and symmetry than 
upon handsome fur and hair, or even 
feathers. Compare the horse with the 
giraffe or camel, the former, with its 
fine proportions and grace of movement, 
the latter with parts so disproportionate 
that they look as if they had been taken 
from altogether different species and put 
together haphazard. The human body is 
beautiful or otherwise, according to the 
15 










< ^ 

S s 



ij ^ 



16 



LETTER TWO 

proportion of its parts, its perfect poise 
and symmetry. The old Greeks realized 
this, and in the physical education of 
their young men great attention was given 
to building their bodies symmetrically. 

Greek sculpture will forever remain the 
wonder and delight of mankind because it 
embodies such marvelous ideals of bodily 
perfection. Those old sculptors, we are 
told, began the study of the human body 
with its skeleton, and if I am to make you 
fully understand ^'Nature's Plan'' for 
keeping the body symmetrical, I also shall 
have to begin with its fundamental parts. 

The bony framework of an animal or 
man is not an attractive thing to look 
upon until we make a careful study of it 
in reference to design, and to the relation 
of its parts, at the same time remember- 
ing Who it was that planned the long 
series of evolutions which should end 
finally in a body so perfect that a soul 
17 



HEALTH AND HAPPINESS 




FIG. 5— ANTIQUE BAS RELIEF 
Perfect Symmetry of Body 

immortal and Grodlike might find within 
it an earthly dwelling place. With these 
things in mind I am sure, girls, you will 
enjoy taking up with me a short study of 
the human body. 

18 



LETTER TWO 

In examining a skeleton, the first thing 
which interests one is the number and 
variety of shapes of the bones that com- 
pose it. These are long and short, thick 
and irregular, thin and flat. If we care- 
fully observe individual bones, we dis- 
cover elevations, depressions, grooves and 
sockets, as carefully formed as are those 
in the stones prepared for building a 
great temple. In an upright structure 
like the human body we should ex]Dect to 
find a central section more or less firm, to 
which subordinate parts are fastened. Such 
a central section is presented in the spinal 
column and pelvis, fastened immovably to- 
gether. The spine is made up of twenty- 
four curiously shaped bones that lock 
and interlock with sufficient looseness to 
permit a small degree of motion at each 
joint. It is broad below where it rests 
upon the upper and back border of the 
pelvis, and it tapers upward to its apex, 
19 



HEALTH AND HAPPINESS 

2 
-8 




5 ^6 

FIG. 6— SHAPE OF BODY AND POSITION OF BOXES IX 
XORMAL POISE 



1. Pelvis 

2. Innominate bones 

3. Spinal column 

4. Attachment of spine to 

pelvis 



5. Sacrum 

6. Coccyx 

7. Ribs 

8. Collar bone 

9. Shoulder blade 



upon Tvliich is poised the head, much as a 
ball rests upon the top of a post. 

Looking at a skull you could not guess 
hoTT heavy it is. The separate bones of 
which it is made up are some of them 
20 



LETTER TWO 

very hard; for their size they are the 
heaviest bones in the skeleton. I suppose 
this is necessary in order ijerfectly to 
protect the brain, ^hich is the most deli- 
cate and important strnctnre within the 
hnman body. 

The ribs are t^venty-four thin, narrow, 
curved bones, some long, some short, that 
fasten by hingelihe joints to the spine in 
its middle third. These, with the breast 
bone, with which they are connected in 
front, the collar bones (clavicles) and the 
shoulder blades (scapulae) make up the 
chest which you know encloses and pro- 
tects the heart and lungs. You can read- 
ily see that the spinal column is pretty 
well loaded down with the skull on its 
top and the chest hanging forward and 
downward from its middle section, but 
these are not all the weights it has to 
carry. The arms, which in the adult 
weigh a pound or more each, are also 
21 



HEALTH AND HAPPINESS 

fastened to it through the shoulder blades 
with which they are connected. Each of the 
twenty-four vertebrae, which together make 
up the spine, has at its back a notch that 
is converted into a canal when the bones 
are in place, one above the other. At 
the base of the skull there is a large 
circular hole — the foramen magnum, 
through which this canal opens into the 
cavity of the skull; in this bony canal 
the spinal cord lies, carefully protected 
from harm. It is about as large as 
your little finger, and is made up of 
nerve-cells and their projecting fibers. 
These fibers, when they unite with pro- 
longations from otl^ ^^ nerve-cells, become 
nerves. Motor projecuon fibers from cells 
in the brain pass down the cord and out to 
muscles, while sensory fibers beginning 
in the skin convey messages up the 
cord to the brain. The spinal cord and 
the brain, with the nerves passing out 



LETTER TWO 

and in, make up the cerebro-spinal nerv- 
ous system, which I shall describe later. 

The pelvis, upon which the weighted 
spinal column rests, and to which it is im- 
movably fastened, is made up in early 
life of four bones, the sacrum, coccyx 
and the two innominates — called ^^ unnamed 
bones," because in shape they are so pe- 
culiar that they could not be compared to 
any known thing. These two innominate 
bones early unite so firmly with each 
other in front, and to the sacrum behind, 
that together they form one large, basin- 
shaped bone, and this is called the pelvis. 
From the upper border of the sacrum the 
spinal column rises -"^ if it were a pro- 
longation upward of the pelvis. The 
coccyx prolongs the sacrum downward, 
and in quadrupeds it has many additional 
segments which together form the tail. 
If you examine a pelvis you will find, low 
down on each side, two cup-shaped, socket- 



HEALTH AND HAPPINESS 

like cavities, into which fit loosely, but 
most accurately, the ball-shaped heads of 
the thigh bones with which the leg bones 
are jointed. These are completed below 
by those many- jointed structures, the feet. 
It would seem that a spinal column, 
flexible, heavily weighted and fastened 
immovably to such an unstable pedestal 
as the pelvis, might be sufficiently difficult 
to maintain in an upright position without 
raising it on such unsteady, stilt-like col- 
umns as the legs. This is the way our 
bodies are made, however, and it ex- 
plains the difficulties which children en- 
counter in learning to walk. It accounts 
also for the many tumbles which some of 
us tall people get when we attempt to 
walk upon slippery ground and when we 
fail to lift our feet high enough to step 
over obstacles in our path. The bony 
skeleton presents numerous projections 
and rough surfaces for the attachments 
24 



LETTER TWO 
of the muscles, whose omce is to move the 
body, and for fibrous tissue which 
strengtbens its walls and binds its joints 
firmly together. 

From spine, lower ribs and breast 
bone sheets of muscle spread out to 
form the abdominal chamber, in which 
are the stomach, intestines, liver, pan- 
creas. sjDleen and kidneys. This chamber 
is separated from the chest above it by 
the diaphragm, a broad firm layer of 
fibrous tissue on which fan-shaped 
muscles are spread. In the cavity of the 
pelvis other important organs find a well- 
protected resting place, altho no dia- 
phragm intervenes to preserve them from 
the encroachment of organs lying in the 
abdomen above. The siiaces between 
bones, muscles and fibrous tissue are. in 
health, more or less filled with fat. which 
not only smooths out and pads uneven 
places, but serves as a storehouse of food 



HEALTH AND HAPPINESS 

materials, which may be drawn from in 
time of need. Over skeleton, muscles, 
fibrous tissue and fat the skin is spread 
like a beautiful, flexible, waterproof case. 
It protects the delicate tissues beneath it; 
and provides a great surface from which 
sensory nerve-ends may catch messages 
from the outside world; it maintains the 
even heat of the body, and when whole, 
it shuts out disease-producing germs as 
completely as if it were an hermetically 
sealed case. 

With this brief outline of the funda- 
mental structures of the body, much of 
which you doubtless already know, I shall 
be able in my next letter to give you in 
detail the principles on which correct 
poise of body depends. 



26 



Letter Three 
PORTSMOUTH, NEW HAMPSHIRE 



27 



Letter Three 

POKTSMOUTH, NeW HaMPSHIEE. 

My Dear Girls: 

Have you ever stopt to think how 
gigantic must have been the task, even for 
an Omnipotent Creator, to transform a 
horizontally moving animal body, carried 
so easily on four legs, into a human body 
which must rest on two feet only, and 
whose every movement is opposed by the 
force of gravitation! 

Muscles that in the quadruped were 
given little work had to grow strong for 
the performance of unwonted tasks, while 
hard-worked muscles, like those which in 
the animal supported the forward hang- 
ing head, had so little to do that they 
dwindled in size and strength. All the 
29 



HEALTH AND HAPPINESS 

organs within the body also had to under- 
go important changes to meet new needs. 
Among the necessary modifications was 
that of acquiring new proportions, for in 
a structure to be lifted as high above the 
ground as is man's body, the most per- 
fect balance of parts was necessary to 
permit of equilibration. The forelegs, 
when used as arms, must swing outward 
as well as backward and forward, and 
when at rest, hang at the sides of the 
trunk, without dragging on the spinal 
column. The forward hanging chest, which 
needed no counterpoise in the animal 
body, in the human being had to be ad- 
justed to the weight of the heavy muscles 
at the back of the pelvis below, and vice 
versa. Whereas the legs balance one 
another when used alternately in walking, 
in sitting they must by muscular action be 
folded neatly out of the way without dis- 
turbing the body balance. 
30 



LETTER THREE 

When we contrast the two structures, 
quadruped animal and biped human, tak- 
ing into consideration the physical losses 
that the upright posture entailed, we un- 
derstand better than we otherwise could 
man's physical limitations. It is well 
that with all these losses there was added 
to his brain groups of psychic cells com- 
paratively few in number in lower forms — 
cells which enable him not only to com- 
prehend his own structure, but also to 
modify his environment and suit it to his 
needs. 

It is well that he can manufacture cloth- 
ing, plow the ground, sow and garner 
grains; well that to him came a mind and 
soul, and the ability to harness the world's 
great forces to make them his servants. 
Surely, man could abundantly afford to 
step out of that clumsy, quadruped body, 
when to him was to be given the power to 
appreciate the good, the true, and the 
31 



HEALTH AND HAPPINESS 

beautiful, and to feel the joy of love and 
the hope of immortality. With all these 
gifts came to man responsibilities from 
which he can not lightly turn, among them 
the ability to imderstand his own bodily 
mechanism and to care for it intelli- 
gently. 

AYhile I have been writing to you about 
the body structure, I have not forgotten 
my promise, girls, to tell you how to 
avoid becoming round shouldered, and 
now that you have the scheme of the body 
in mind. I am sure you will easily under- 
stand my teaching. 

You remember my statement that the 
spine is immovably fastened to the back 
of the pelvis, and. therefore, must move 
with it : that the chest, arms and shoulder 
blades are connected with the spine, which 
makes their position dependent upon the 
shape it assumes. 

I told you also that the head rests upon 
32 



LETTER THREE 

the summit of the spine. The pelvis, 
therefore, is plainly the pedestal upon 
which the entire trunk rests, and so upon 
its position beneath the trunk, the shape 
of the body depends. 

Nature's plan to keep the 
body symmetrical is simply 
to maintain the pelvis in 
correct position^ with head 
carried high. To prove the 
truth of this, get right up, 
and, looking in a mirror, 
stand with the weight of 
your body resting heavily 
on your heels. In a moment 
your pelvis will settle down 
AT THE BACK ; with this move- 
ment the normal lower curve 
of the spine will straighten, 
and the normal upper curve 
behind the shoulders will 
deepen. The trunk in this 
33 




Courte&y of Dr. 
Kellogg, Battle 
Creek, Mich. 

FIG. 7 
Round Shoulders 
and Flat Chest 



HEALTH AND HAPPINESS 

position tends to fall over backward; to 
prevent this, the head must move forward 
as ballast, carrying the upper part of the 
spine with it. In the glass yon will now see 
that you have round shoulders and a for- 
ward poked head. If you are not yet con- 
vinced of the truth of my statement, try 
another posture. Drop the pelvis on the 
left and elevate it on the right side. To 
do this you will only have to stand on the 
right foot and permit the other to slide 
diagonally forward and to the left. Stand 
in that position a few moments, and if 
you look in the glass you will see, not a 
round-shouldered girl, but one with head 
on one side, the right shoulder lower 
than the left, a high right hip (the left 
low), a short side line from armpit to 
belt on the right, and a longer one on 
on the left, like the boy in Fig. 9. Every 
dressmaker is familiar with this shape 
and learns to make the skirt of a gown 
34 



LETTER THREE 

longer on the side having the high hip, 
and the waist shorter proportionately on 
the same side. 

Now try one more position. Place the 
right foot a short step in advance of the 




FIG. 

"RIGHT FOOT TWIST" 
Lazy left leg permits pel- 
vis to drop on that side. 
Spine curves to move upper 
weight over supporting right 
foot and to balance the 
hanging left leg 




FIG. 9 
CORRECT POSTURE 
Illustrating the ''one-two- 
three-four posture rules" 
of author 



35 



HEALTH AND HAPPINESS 

left, with toes pointing directly forward; 
drop the pelvis a little (the position that 
makes your skirt long in front), elevate 
your head (stretch the neck a little up- 
ward, chin in), and sway the entire trunk 
gently forward until you feel your weight 
resting on the ''ball" of the forward foot. 
If you look in the glass you will see a 
girl with head high, shoulders even, hips 
on a level and side lines of the same 
length, a posture well shown by the boy 
in Fig. 9. Your body is now sym- 
metrically placed, and it became so by 
dropping the pelvis in front instead of at 
the back and making it level by placing 
both feet directly under it — altho one was 
a little in advance of the other, so that 
when the weight rested on one foot it was 
not necessary to drop the pelvis on the 
opposite side. When you stand in this 
position, every organ has the largest and 
best place possible for its work, and all 
36 



LETTER THREE 

the muscles of the body are symmetricallT 
placed. 

We always hitch our bodies, so to 
speak, to the force of gravitation; that is, 
the spine is al^vays adjusting its weights 
in a manner to balance each other, that 
the muscles may be relieved of work. 
This is economic of energy; before, how- 
ever, we yield ourselves to gravic force 
it is important that we shall adjust our 
weights symmetrically. 

I have more to say to you on this sub- 
ject, but now I ask you to commit to 
memory this ' ' Plan of Xature ' ' : The 

POSITIOX IX WHICH THE PELVIS IS HELD DE- 
CIDES THE SHAPE OF THE BODY IN STAXDIXG, 

SITTIXG AXD W.ILKIXG. 



37 



Letter Four 
YORK, MAINE 



39 



Letter Four 

York, Maine. 
My Dear Girls: 

I am wondering how many of you, since 
reading my last letter, have tried to find 
out what habit of posture you have ac- 
quired, for we are all ''creatures of habit '^ 
in our ways of standing, sitting and walk- 
ing, as well as in most other things. One 
summer several years ago, when I was 
writing a paper on the ''Habitual Pos- 
tures of School Children'' I asked a dozen 
or twenty of my friends to give me a good 
definition of the word habit. From their 
answers I formulated the following: 
"Habit is the unconscious repetition of 
an act originally performed with some 
degree of volition." Altho you have for- 
41 



HEALTH AND HAPPINESS 

gotten it, you learned to stand and walk 
with great difficulty. You do it now, 
however, with little conscious effort. With 
what clumsy fingers the beginner strikes 
the keys of a piano ! Frequent repetition 
soon enables him to play with ease and 
almost without thought. 

Nearly every child under six years of 
age stands and walks correctly, and pos- 
sesses a symmetrical body. He has never 
been still long enough in one position, nor 
has he repeated the same movements suf- 
ficiently to acquire other than a normal 
shape. About this age, however, his con- 
ditions of life change, and too often some- 
thing in his environment causes him re- 
peatedly to assume postures less normal 
than those to which he has been accus- 
tomed. It may be confinement to a school 
seat and desk unsuited to his size and 
shape, or standing long in class causes 
him to lounge and to lean. His shoes 
42 



LETTER FOUR 

being stiff may produce a blister or corn, 
or his stockings may be too short. Bad 
postural habits are generally formed under 




FIG. 10— CURVE WHICH SPINE ASSUMES IN CARRYING 
BOOKS UNDER ONE ARM 



conditions more or less accidental and 
unnecessary, and at no period of life is 
the body exempt from acquiring them. 
Frequent repetition of a movement or a 
posture is the mold in which the new 
shape is formed, 

43 



HEALTH AND HAPPINESS 

Now, girls, may I make a guess in 
reference to the body shape that many of 
you have begun to acquire, and which will 
become permanent if you do not change 
your present habit of posture? It is only 
a guess, you know, so I do not mind if I 
am mistaken — indeed, I hope I am wrong. 
You have what I call a ''right foot twist." 
Your head has inclined so habitually 
toward the right shoulder that the neck 
muscles on that side are shortened. Of 
this you can assure yourself by dropping 
the head forcibly toward the left shoulder. 
The muscles feel more tense on the right 
side of the neck, do they not, than on the 
left, when you let your head fall toward 
the opposite side? Your right shoulder is 
lower than the left, and the right hip is 
high and square at the top, as compared 
with its fellow. You can feel this by slid- 
ing your hands down over the hips. The 
muscles at the back of the right hip are 
44^ 




FIG. 11— SHAPE OF BODY AND POSITION OF BONES 

IN "RIGHT FOOT TWIST" 
. Head dropt toward right shoulder. 
. Short neck line — low shoulder. 
. Short side line. 
:. High hip. 

>. Deep gutter between ribs and hips. 
<. Attachment of spine to bones of pelvis. "Right foot twist." 

Standing on right foot with the left directed diagonallj 

forward. 

45 



HEALTH AND HAPPINESS 

larger than those on the other side; the 
gutter between the top of the hip and the 
lower ribs is deeper and the tissues are 
distinctly more soft in that hollow than on 
the opposite side. 

If this shape has really become fixt by 
long habit, or because your tissues are 
delicate, many other losses in your body 
symmetry will have occurred, altho less 
evident. The flesh of the face is soft, and 
when the head drops on one side habit- 
ually, gravity takes a hand, so to speak, 
and changes the face lines. If, as I sus- 
pect, your habit is to ' incline your head 
toward the right shoulder, the right cheek 
will be fuller than the left, for the loose 
tissue falls away from the bone on the low 
side, while on the upper, it clings closely to 
it, thereby flattening the cheek. The lower 
lid drops with the cheek tissues, so the 
right eye in the course of time looks 
larger and more round, while the other 
46 



LETTER FOUR 

tends to grow smaller and to open less 
widely. 

Nor is this all, the line from the outer 
angle of the nose to the corner of the 
mouth, smooths out more or less under 
the pull of cheek tissues. Its counter- 
part on the left side deepens because the 
tissues on that side fall toward the nose 
rather than away from it. Photographers 
always choose the side of the face which 
has been held toward the shoulder to 
photograph, '^because it is the better look- 
ing side of the face," they say. And so, 
girls, if you have been unfortunate enough 
to carry your head tipped toward one 
shoulder, remember to turn that side of 
your face toward people when you wish to 
look your best. 

All these changes in body symmetry 

have come as a result of your habit of 

standing on the right foot, with the left 

foot thrust diagonally forward and out- 

47 



HEALTH AND HAPPINESS 

ward. In this position the trunk had to 
move over to the right leg for support, 
while the lazy left leg hung like a weight 
upon the side of the pelvis. Of course, a 
counter balancing weight for that lazy 
leg was needed, so you dropt your head 
to the right and lowered the right shoulder 
and arm. When I was making a study of 
this subject and wished to prove my theory, 
namely, that it is to balance the weight 
of the unused leg that the head and 
arm move over to the right, I looked for 
a man with but one leg. One day on 
the street, I saw an unfortunate fellow, 
who had lost his entire left leg clump- 
ing along on his crutches. My need 
was so great, that I mustered courage 
to ask if he would be willing to help me 
with some work I was doing. I judged, 
and rightly, that he needed money, and I, 
therefore, could help him also. At my 
office he laid aside his crutches, and 



LETTER FOUR 

stood on Ms leg with pelvis almost per- 
fectly horizontal, and ■without dropping 
his head to the right shonlder or lower- 
ing his right arm. He did not need to 
do so, because he had no leg hanging 
idly from the pelvis, needing to be bal- 
anced by weights above. So you see, 
girls, if you wish to regain your sym- 
metry of body you can not continue your 
habit of standing with one foot placed 
diagonally forward, thus tilting your pel- 
vis down on that side and up on the other. 
I have guessed that the left will be the 
lazy leg because most of you are right 
handed, and it is, therefore, easier to 
turn the body to the right. Some of you 
have a ''left foot twist," in which case 
the shape that I have described will be 
reversed. Some of you, too, have defec- 
tive eyes. From these, or some acci- 
dental condition, you may have fallen 
into the habit of dropping the head to 
49 



HEALTH AND HAPPINESS 

tlcfid left, even tho you have a ^^ right foot 
twist." 

I hope some one will wish to ask the 
question, ''How can I get rid of the bad 
shape I have acquired I ' ' Simply by never 
again standing or sitting in the position 
which produced it. Follow the rule I shall 
give you at the end of this letter, and in a 
few weeks all your body lines will again 
become what they were when you were 
six years old. You may have to give your 
neck frequent stretchings and twis tings to 
lengthen its short muscles, and you must 
carry your head very high, remembering 
my illustration of the trolley wheel. You 
need to do this to keep the upper part of 
the spine straight and the neck from bend- 
ing forward. The new habit may not be 
easy to form, but here is where intellect 
will come to the front and enable us to 
remove physical handicaps. 

Some of you girls, whom I see in imagi- 
50 



LETTER FOUR 

nation, have round slionlders and hollow 
chests. Tt is very unfortunate, for this 
shape injures the internal organs much 
more seriously than does a ''right" or 
''left foot twist." I described this shape 
fully in my last letter, giving the causes 
which produce it, namely habitually drop- 
ping the pelvis at the back and elevating- 
it in front. I only need say, "Never try 
to 'throw the shoulders back,' but instead, 
unfold the body upward; follow my rule 
for standing, and especially for sitting; 
use a low pillow — never a high one, and 
you will regain your lost symmetry if you 
are persevering. ' ' 

Here are my rules for correct standing 
— "one, two, three and four": 

EULES FOE STANDING COEEECTLY 

1. With knees near together place the 
feet in position for walking, the right 
foot a step in advance, toes pointing 
straight forward. 

51 



HEALTH AND HAPPINESS 

2. Drop the pelvis a little at the front. 

3. Lift the head high (chin well in). 

4. Sway the entire body gently for- 
ward until its weight is felt to rest on the 
ball of the forward foot. Find an easy 
balance in this position. 

It may help you to imagine you have 
a little wheel on the top of your head 
at its middle, and above it a wire like the 
one the overhead trolley wheel runs on. 
Hold your head in a position which would 
keep the wheel on the wire, in standing, 
walking and sitting — not stifily, of course, 
but easily pushed upward. 

In walking, the toes should point for- 
ward — not outward, as we were taught 
when I was young. To turn them out 
locks the ankle and makes it difficult to 
bend the knee and to raise the heel as 
high as we must to acquire an elastic step. 
Each leg should do its share of pushing 
52 



^ 



LETTER FOUR 

tlie body forward. Many people in walk- 
ing form the habit of using bnt one leg 
forcefully, while the other is practically 
swung forward with the pel- 
vis. Of course, that foot takes 
its turn upon the ground and 
supports the body, but it 
does as little work as possi- 
ble. Especially is this true 
when the spine is curved un- 
naturally. In walking, the 
chest and head should lead 
the rest of the body, as it 
does when we liurry forward. 
Be sure to carry your head 
high. Imagine yourself a 
l^rincess or some other per- 
son of dignity, better still, 
hold it high because you re- 
spect yourself. 
In sitting observe the same 
rule as regards the position of the head, 
53 



L:. 



Courted of Dr. 
J. H. Kellogg. 

FIG. 12 
'■HEAD HIGH" 



HEALTH AND HAPPINESS 

and do not slide down on tlie chair as the 
boy does in Fig. 14. Catch a balance with 
trunk erect. If your chair or seat does not 
suit your shape suf- 
ficiently to help 
you, ignore its bad 
back and depend 
wholly upon your 




Be careful to 
maintain good bod- 
ily postures during 
sleep. The spine 
should be moder- 

FIG. 13 
A Perfectly Symmetrical Back, atcly Straight aud 
Body in Normal Poise 

the legs stretched 
downward, not bent so the knees approach 

* The kindergarten cliair designed bj me several years 
ago, and in use in the public schools of New York City, 
demonstrates the fact that a narrow bar across the back 
of a chair behind the shoulders is all that is needed to 
make it comfortable, provided there is space for the pelvis 
to slide under it. The seat can not be wide from before 
backward, however, or it will strike the child's legs be- 
hind the knees. 

54 



LETTER FOUR 

the chest. It is better, doubtless, to lie a 
little off the back than directly on it, but 
no one position should be permitted to 
become habitual. A low pillow is better 
for the body than either a high one or 
none. The bed should always be away 
from a wall, and reasonably near a win- 
dow. It should not be in an alcove, nor 
in a corner, for if outdoor air does not 
come in direct contact with the nose, it 
loses some of its value as fresh air, and 
the carbon dioxide thrown off by the 
lungs will not be carried far enough 
away, to avoid being breathed again. 

The ideal thing, of course, is to sleep in 
the open air, and I hope the time will soon 
come when out-of-door bedrooms will be 
thought a necessity. It is much more in- 
vigorating to children and young people, 
to sleep in separate rooms, for even to a 
good sleeper the presence of another per- 
son in the room is likely to be disturbing. 
55 




FIG. 14 
One of the postures that produces round 
shoulders and flat chest 




Round shoulders in the making 

56 




FIG. 17 
Correct Sitting Posture 

57 



HEALTH AND HAPPINESS 



FIG. 18 
Mosher Kindergarten Chair 

To the large nninber of girls among you 
who are strong and symmetrical, let me 
say : keep yourselves so I Do not treat 
your bodies carelessly because they never 
cry out vrith pain. Thank God and your 
parents for them every day you live, and 
realize your responsibility to pass on to 
the next generation something just as ^e. 
58 



Letter Five 
PORTLAND, MAINE 



Letter Five 

Portland^ Maine. 
My Dear Girls: 

Before I can tell you other things you 
wish to know about the human body, I 
must explain the way in which it is 
nourished, because every part must be 
kept strong if we are to do our work in 
the world. 

If you have studied biology, as I hope 
you have, you have learned that all living 
organisms are made up of microscopic 
particles called cells, which are united by 
intercellular material of different kinds; 
these cells are surrounded by moisture in 
which are dissolved the nutrient sub- 
stances taken into the body as food. 

If you examine the pulp of an orange, 
you will see that it consists of little sacs 
61 



HEALTH AND HAPPINESS 

laid beautifully side by side, and that each 
sac contains what seems to be sweet water. 
These very well represent the cells of the 
human body, tho they do not hold in solu- 
tion all the constituents that the body 




Courtesy of Wm\m 
Dr. J. H. •'!!/[ ijjM 

Kellogg. 

FIG. 19 
Cartilage Tissue Cells 

needs. Our body-cells contain oxygen, 
water, protein, carbohydrate, fat, mineral 
salts, and sometimes other substances, 
which are constantly undergoing chemical 
changes that result in both loss and 
gain to the cells. They exude their waste 
into the moisture which surrounds them 
62 



LETTER FIVE 

and withdraw from it siicli cliemical sub- 
stances as they require to replace loss and 
reproduce cells like themselves. This they 
must do if the body is to grow. 

You ask me how the materials from the 




FIG. 21 

(a) Epithelial Cells 

(b) Fibrous Tissue Cells 



food we eat get into this moisture around 
the cells^, and how the moisture gets rid 
of the waste thrown into it from them. 
When I have answered these questions you 
will be more sure than ever that our 
bodies are part of the plan of a great 
Creator; not the result of chance, as some 
say. 
The liquid around the cells is the water 
63 



HEALTH AND HAPPINESS 

of the blood, and we call it plasma or 
lympli. It passes out of the blood current 
through microscopic openings in the walls 
of the capillary blood-vessels, which are 





FIG. 23 
Epithelial Cells 



FIG. 24 
Elastic Tissue (highly magnified) 



themselves so tiny we can not see them 
with the naked eye. 

Every beat of the heart sends a current 
of blood through the large vessels into the 
capillaries. If the beats are slow and 
weak their walls are not distended, and 
very little lymph exudes; but if the heart 
beats fast and hard, the capillaries fill so 
full that the hmiph leaks out into the 
64^ 



LETTER FIVE 

tissues, to replenish the food supply of 
the cells. This is why running, walking 
and gymnastic exercises which set the 
heart beating fast and hard, improve the 





FIG. 25 
Capillary Blood-vessel 
(a) Red Blood-cells 



Capillary Blood-vessel 
in Relation to Cells 



nutrition of the body as they do, while a 
sedentary life weakens it. 

You say to me, '' Suppose I should push 
out too much lymph by running a long- 
time ?" To arrange for that, a system of 
lymph-tubes begins, whose open mouths 
lie in the moisture around cells. These 
tubes suck up the surplus lymph as fast as 
it flows out, and carry it by a network 
65 



HEALTH AND HAPPINESS 

of canals back to the main blood current, 
in which it starts on its rounds again. 
You see it would not do to let so much 
good hTiiph be lost from the blood; it 
would weaken that important fluid besides 
being uneconomic. The waste from the 
cells is thrown into the lymph, as I have 
said, and also goes into the blood, to be re- 
moved from the body by the lungs, kid- 
neys, and skin, as it flows through those 
organs. 

Allien you eat a hearty meal containing 
meat (protein), sugar, starch (carbohy- 
drate), fat and salts, you are sending into 
the myriads of capillary blood-vessels 
surrounding your stomach and intestines, 
new nutrient material. The body-cells 
will not get any of it, however, from those 
capillary blood-vessels. The supply of 
protein you have taken in, or more likely 
starch and sugar, may have been too 
large to safely come in contact with some 
66 



LETTER FIVE 

of the delicate cells of the body; a part 
of it must be held back, and some perhaps 
thrown away. 

All the vessels which receive the blood 




FIG. 27 
A liver lobule, showing cells and blood 



from the capillaries in the walls of the 
stomach and intestines go directly to the 
liver, where millions of cells act upon that 
which the blood brings, detain the surplus 
food, prepare waste to be removed by the 
kidneys and other organs, and send on 
only what is needed by the body-cells. Cell 
nutrition is not certain to be maintained, 
67 



HEALTH AND HAPPINESS 

however, even tlio the supply of nutriment 
in the moisture by which they are sur- 
rounded is adequate. The cells must he in 
condition to take it in. In other words, the 
chemical changes which produce a de- 
mand for new material must be active, and 
the removal of waste complete if they 
are to be hungry for food. 

Most of the water you drink passes 
into the blood stream to dilute and hasten 
the removal of waste from the cells. 
Lungs, kidneys and skin are waiting to 
carry this waste out of the body. You 
can readily see that if you drink but little 
water, those poisonous materials must 
make the circuit of the body again and 
again in the blood, growing more concen- 
trated as its water is removed and not re- 
placed. Do not wait for thirst to tell you 
it is time to drink, but knowing that your 
bodies need from one to two quarts of water 
a day outside the liquid taken at meals, 
68 



LETTER FIVE 

drink regularly that amount. If yon take 
it at stated intervals for a few days, yon 
will find yonrself jnst as ready for it, as 
yon are for yonr meals when the time 
for them arrives. Probably the best hours 
for drinking water are upon rising, re- 
tiring, and in the middle of the morning 
and afternoon, but take it when you can 
get it rather than omit it. 

The stomach has such a difficult and 
delicate task to perform in conducting the 
chemical changes necessary to prepare food 
for absorption, that every other activity 
of the body should cease, for at least a 
half hour after eating. If the meal has 
been a heavy one, an hour is not too much 
to set apart conscientiously, for stomach 
digestion. To eat and hurry off to school 
or work, is an affront to the organs that 
are so patiently elaborating the materials 
on which we are dependent for ability 
to perform either X3hysical or mental 
69 



HEALTH AND HAPPINESS 

tasks. It is like ''killing the goose which 
laid the golden egg^^ to disturb the di- 
gestive process during its highest activity. 

With the constituents of the body-cells 
in mind, it is easy to know what foods we 
should eat. Meat, eggs, milk, cheese, cereals 
and legumes (beans and pease), give to 
the cells the protein they require; starchy 
foods, cane and other sugars, fruits 
and vegetables, furnish carbohydrate; fat 
meat, cheese, cream, butter, eggs and nuts 
provide them with fat. Nearly all sub- 
stances used as food contain mineral salts 
which replace those the cells are con- 
stantly losing in large amount. 

The amount of each of these constituents 
needed by the body, depends upon the 
degree of concentration in which they 
exist in the substances eaten. Water and 
protein, make up the greater part of body- 
cells, and that is the reason why a person 
dies in a short time when deprived of 
70 



LETTER FIVE 

either. Too much protein, however, clogs 
the body and makes its work difficult; a 
large supply of sugar crowds the liver, and 
dulls the activities of the entire body. It 
is the same with a superabundance of fat. 
From these facts you see, girls, that the 
process of maintaining the nutrition of 
the body is not a simple matter. The 
care that the Creator has given to per- 
fecting the digestive organs and adapting 
them to the needs of man, demands on 
our part an intelligent and conscientious 
choice of food and drink; a rational con- 
trol of the quantity taken, and an avoid- 
ance of physical and mental exertion just 
before eating and during the early part 
of digestion. Healthy body-cells, pure 
blood, a proper supply of nutriment, and 
plenty of physical exercise alternated with 
periods of rest, are what we all need to 
make us strong and vigorous in body and 
mind. 

71 



Letter Six 
ST. JOHN, NEW BRUNSWICK 



73 



Letter Six 

St. John^^ New Bkunswick. 
Dear Girls: 

The processes by which waste sub- 
stances are removed from the body are 
so important and so interesting that I 
think I must tell you about them before 
going on to other matters. 

Nearly all foods contain carbon, altho 
sugar, starch and fat hold it in largest 
amount. This element, carbon, has a very 
useful way of separating somewhat easily 
from the combinations in which it enters 
the body, and uniting with other chemical 
elements near by for which it possesses a 
greater affinity. In this way carbon con- 
tinually forms new combinations. In both 
separating and recombining, energy is set 
75 



HEALTH AND HAPPINESS 

free. This is manifested in the form of 
heat, which serves to keep the body warm, 
and in muscular movement. When carbon 
unites with oxygen in the proportion of 
one to two, carbon dioxide is formed, 
which not only is of no further use to the 
body, but is injurious to it, if any great 
amount accumulates in the tissues or in 
the blood. 

Not alone from food is carbon dioxide 
formed in the body, but also through the 
breaking down of body-cells, most of 
which, as has been said in a former let- 
ter, contain carbohydrate and fat. From 
these two sources the body tissues are 
being loaded both day and night with the 
gas, carbon dioxide. From the tissues it 
passes into both blood and lymph capil- 
laries through which it reaches the gen- 
eral blood current. Because of the im- 
portance of its prompt removal from the 
body, several outlets for it are provided. 
76 



LETTER SIX 

Some passes by way of the skin, some with 
waste from the intestines and kidneys, bnt 
its great portal of exit is the lungs, which 
have the double duty to perform of sup- 
plying the body with oxygen, and carrying 
out its carbon dioxide. 

You already know that those wonderful 
organs, the lungs, are made up of mil- 
lions of microscopic air-sacs, and of bron- 
chial tubes that connect them through the 
wind pipe, with the outside atmosphere. 
By the movement of the diaphragm and 
muscles of the chest walls, air is sucked 
in and forced out of the tubes in the 
lungs on an average of eighteen times a 
minute from birth till death. 

From the air-tubes the air-sacs fill — at 
least as many of them as the chest walls 
make room for. When your clothing is so 
tight that it limits the movement of the 
chest, or if you flatten the chest by assum- 
ing the postures that produce round shoul- 
77 



HEALTH AND HAPPINESS 

ders, the space for air is encroached upon, 
and the number of air-cells which might 
fill is much reduced. 

On the outside of all these air-sacs, 
which vou must remember are so small 




FIG. 28 FIG. 29 

1 — Lung tissue (highly magnified), with air-sacs surrounded by- 
blood capillaries. 
2 — Bronchial tubes. 
3 — Wind pipe. 
4 — Air cells (balloons). 

that you could not possibly see them with- 
out a microscope, is spread a network of 
capillary blood-yessels whose walls, as 
well as those of the air-cells, are so thin 
that gases easily pass through them. 



LETTER SIX 
The blood brought to the lungs has, in its 
journey through the body been giving off 
all the oxygen it could possibly spare to 
the needy body-cells along its route. When, 
therefore, it reaches those nice little lung- 
balloons filled with fresh air from out- 
of-doors, it quickly loads every bit of 
oxygen it can carry into its red cell-boats. 
While this work of reoxygenation is go- 
ing on, the liquid portion of the blood, 
transfers its carbon dioxide to the air 
within the sacs, and from them it passes 
out through the windpipe. Thus relieved 
and replenished, the blood moves comfort- 
ably back to the heart, from which it is 
quickly forced with its oxygen-laden red 
cells, toward far away parts of the body. 
This process of intake of oxygen and 
removal of carbon dioxide, goes on con- 
stantly from birth until death, and both 
health and vigor of body, depend upon the 
perfection with which it is accomplished. 
79 



HEALTH AND HAPPINESS 

The removal of waste" protein is a much 
more difficult problem, than that of the 
removal of waste carbohydrate and fat. 
Protein contains an element, nitrogen, 
which, unlike carbon, separates with dif- 
ficulty from its combinations, and, when 
separated it does not form a gas that can 
easily be carried out of the body. It has 
to pass through changes that may be com- 
pared to successive links of a chain, all of 
which must be perfect if the chain is to be 
complete. Suffice it to say that the last link 
of this protein chain is forged in the liver, 
where urea is formed. As urea it is de- 
livered to the general blood current, in 
which it moves continually through the 
body. With each beat of the heart, a por- 
tion of blood loaded with urea enters the 
kidneys through arteries, large in propor- 
tion to the size of the organs to which 
they pass. As in the lungs, the carbon 
dioxide escapes from the blood stream, 
80 



LETTER SIX 
so here in the kidney tiibnles. the nrea 
finds its outlet. 

The strnctnre of the kidneys is quite 
as wonderful as that of the lungs, and 
much more difficult to descrihe. because 




FIG. 30 
1 — Glomerulus of kidney txibe. 
2 — Convoluted tube. 

81 



HEALTH AND HAPPINESS 

urea can not be removed by means of air, 
but demands a stream of water in which 
it may dissolve as fast as separated. 

Microscopic tubes lined with epithelial 
cells with the blood-vessels make up the 
main structure of the kidneys. A flush 
of water is obtained at the beginning of 
each kidney tubule in a very curious way. 
In a balloon-like expansion of the tubule, 
a long, fine coil of capillary blood-vessels 
is placed, that provides the necessary 
amount of blood from which the cells 
lining the expansion abstract water. The 
office of this water is to wash down from 
the walls of the tubule farther on the urea 
and other waste substances which are 
there separated. 

The small size of the kidneys makes it 
necessary for the urinary tubules to con- 
volute and turn sharply upon themselves, 
in order to furnish sufficient tube lining 
to accomplish the work to be done. Blood 
82 



LETTER SIX 

capillaries form networks around the tu- 
bules, and even those from which water 
was withdrawn in the expansion at the 
beginning of each tube, a second time 
supply blood from which 
urea may be separated. 

The tubules finally 
empty into the funnel- 
shaped, upper ends of 
the ureters, or outlet 
tubes, of which there is 
one for each kidney. 

From these the water fig. si— human kid- 
ney, CUT OPEN 

flows, loaded with urea lengthayise 
and many other waste 
substances to the urinary bladder, lo- 
cated low down in the pelvis in front. 
Here the kidney secretion is stored until 
the bladder becomes full, when it is dis- 
charged. The amount of solids thus elimi- 
nated each day by urine, depends upon 
the amount of protein taken, the amount 




HEALTH AND HAPPINESS 

of water we drink, and the health of the 
kidney cells. 

Mineral salts, of which a small amount 
is found in all body-cells, and a very large 
amount in bones, are taken into the body 
with food of nearly every kind. Because 
blood and lymph contain mineral salts in 
abundance, it is evident these are of great 
importance to the body. The surplus 
leaves it by way of its various excretions, 
but the largest amount passes in the 
urine. Table salt — chloride of sodium — 
is the only mineral salt we add to our 
food. The body seems to need it in larger 
amount than other salts, and certainly it 
plays an important role in the processes 
of nutrition. It is possible, however, to 
use too much with our meals, and in some 
conditions of the body no salt should be 
eaten. 

Vegetables contain quite a large variety 
of salts, but unfortunately we waste most 
84 



LETTER SIX 

of them by our uneconomic custom in this 
country of throwing away the water in 
which they are boiled. Little children need 
a much larger amount of mineral salts, 
than the foods upon which they are usually 
fed contain. This lack should be made 
up by giving them vegetable "purees/' 
made by stirring the water, or part of it 
in which the vegetables were cooked, into 
the mashed and strained vegetable pulp. 

The largest outlet for waste is the in- 
testinal canal through which passes daily 
a large quantity of indigestible material 
that was taken in with foods, as well as 
the waste from body-cells. The last 
section of the canal, the colon, may be 
termed the general sewer of the body, for 
when any of the other outlets fail in their 
work, almost any kind of tissue waste 
can be made to pass by this route. 

The digestive canal, you know, is about 
thirty feet long and its great office is to 
85 



HEALTH AND HAPPINESS 

absorb food substances. The last five or 
six feet, however, have for their work 
the preparation for and the removal 
of waste. The co- 
lon, or large intes- 
tine begins in the 
shelter of the right 
hip, rises njDward 
to the nnder sur- 
face of the liver, 
bends abruptly, 
crosses the abdo- 
men below the 
stomach, again 
turns and passes 
downward. Lisicle the left hip, upon the 
smooth, broad surface of the iliac bone, 
it again changes direction, assuming now 
somewhat the shape of the letter "S,'' not 
only that it may better adapt itself to the 
surface on which it lies, but to make a 
more perfect reservoir for the detention 
86 




FIG. 32 — DIAGRAM OF THE 
DIGESTIVE OEGAXS 



LETTER SIX 
of tlie waste that has been prepared in the 
colon for removal from the body. 

Continiions with this section is the rec- 
tum, which lies directly against the sac- 
rum. It is abont six inches long, and is 
intended as a quick passageway outward 
for intestinal waste. Its normal capacity 
is equal to that of the sigmoid flexure 
above it. Because of the close relation 
between the rectum and the organs that 
lie next it. waste substances should not 
be pennitted habitually to collect in it and 
remain any length of time. 

In the small intestine, food substances 
necessarily exist in a more or less liquid 
state for purposes of absoriDtion. ITsually 
they enter the colon in this liquid con- 
dition, but as they move through the 
canal much of the water is absorbed. The 
mass is gradually condensed by means of 
the muscular pressure exerted by the 
walls of the colon, so that on reaching: the 



HEALTH AND HAPPINESS 

sigmoid it is semi-solid and passes out of 
the body tlirougli the rectnm, needing 
little help from the abdominal muscles. 

Intestinal waste may become hard from 
too long a stay in the colon, or through 
insufficient secretion of intestinal mucous. 
It frequently becomes packed into dry, 
ball-like masses, which move slowly from 
sigmoid to rectum, and are expelled from 
the latter only with great effort. This 
condition is termed constipation, and its 
influence on the health of the body is 
always unfavorable. 

When waste is detained in the colon, 
bacteria, always present there, multiply 
rapidly, and by their action on protein, 
produce harmful chemical changes. Ab- 
sorption of new substances formed under 
their influence causes a variety of ab- 
normal conditions, such as a general sense 
of fatigue or lassitude, headache, a weak- 
ened heart action, and sometimes severe 
88 



LETTER SIX 

palpitation of the heart. It is as if one 
had manufactured his own medicine (in 
the intestinal canal), and taken it without 
prescription from a physician, and, as is 
often the case when people who are ignor- 
ant regarding the body try to dose them- 
selves, ^'the last condition is worse than 
* the first." 

Constipation is produced in many ways : 
drinking too small an amount of water to 
keep the supply of liquid within the body 
plentiful and pure; insufficient physical 
exercise to promote needed body changes ; 
too much or too little food; eating freely 
of meats and sparingly of vegetables ; the 
free use of chocolate, crackers, toasted 
bread, and other foods which are known to 
retard the outward movement of waste; 
irregularity in the hours of meals and eat- 
ing between meals ; most serious of all, 
carelessness in responding to the call of 
the rectum for evacuation. The body is an 



HEALTH AND HAPPINESS 

orderly machine and needs to have its 
methods of work understood and tlie life 
of the individual conducted accordingly, 
for, while it endures a great deal of hard 
usage, sooner or later it will succumb to it 
and ill-health result. 

Now you understand, girls, some of my 
objections to the corset and to bad habits 
of posture. Both shut down the chest 
walls, lessen the space within it, and di- 
minish the muscular movements that 
hasten the exchange of gases between 
blood and air. I trust that you also un- 
derstand why I urge the drinking of water 
between meals. You know that the end 
product of protein in the body is urea, 
which is a poison, and that it must be 
carried out by water, and how those 
wonderful little organs, the kidneys, do it. 

Eemember, also, that we are constantly 
losing water, by our breath, in the form 
of vapor, by the intestines, and by the 
90 



LETTER SIX 
skin, all of wliicli must be replaced to 
keep the body fluids pure. Physical exer- 
cise not only improves body nutrition by 
crowding lymph out of capillary vessels 
to cells, but it hastens the movement of 
waste toward the outlets of the body. 

We all need, just as early in life as pos- 
sible, to acquire habits that tend to main- 
tain health, for they will hold us to correct 
living, when in our busy lives, we might 
otherwise forget our duty. 



91 



Letter Seven 
DIGBY, NOVA SCOTIA 



9S 



••^ei:^ 



Letter Seven 

DiGBY, Nova Scotia. 

Dear Girls: 

To possess a fine skin is the natural and 
proper ambition of every girl, for, wlien 
we stop to think of it, Tve realize that 
the skin is the only part of the body 
really seen by others, and vre all desire 
to appear well before onr fellows. 

The skin is a "telltale," not only of what 
is going on in the cells within the body, 
but also 'of the thoughts that fill the mind. 
The blush of modest}^ and self-conscious- 
ness and the pallor of fright or pain are 
as easily interpreted as the sallowness 
due to retained excretions and the blue- 
ness of body chill. 

I wonder if you girls know how many 
95 



HEALTH AND HAPPINESS 

kinds of work the skin performs. We 
generally think of it as a covering to pro- 
tect the deeper parts of the body from 
injury, but that is only one of its func- 
tions. It offers the very best kind of a 
surface, for the nervous system to spread 
out its sheet of sensory nerves upon; it 
even provides elevations called papillae, on 
which their terminal ends are raised, much 
as electric lights are elevated upon poles 
in our streets. With so many chemical 
changes going on within it that generate 
heat, the body is almost constantly in 
danger of becoming too warm. The skin, 
however, carefully prevents this, even on 
the hottest days of summer; for, when the 
body temperature begins to run up, the 
tiny sweat tubes that lie coiled up in its 
deeper layers at once begin to withdraw 
water from the blood in the capillary ves- 
sels by which they are surrounded. This 
water drips out of the sweat tubes upon 
96 



LETTER SEVEN 
the surface of the skin, and by its evapora- 
tion body temperature is lowered. The skin 
is kept moist not only by the imperceptible 
prespiration that bathes it continually, but 
also by oil that oozes from glands lying in 
its deeper layers ex- 
pressly adapted to 
the manufacture of 
it. Just enough oil 
Tubuif "^ is given out in health 
to keep the skin soft 
and make the hairs 

FIG. 33— A TRANSVERSE glOSSy that pUSll 

SECTION OF SKIN 

their way through it. 

I have told you about all these functions 
so vital to health, because I wish to 
convince you of the great importance of 
giving to the skin of the entire body the 
good care which it needs and deserves. 

In the palmy days of ancient Eome, its 
young men must have spent a large por- 
tion of their time at the baths, the re- 
97 




HEALTH AND HAPPINESS 

mains of which are most interesting. Even 
in Pompeii, buried so many hundred years 
ago, one sees the floor and finely decorated 
side walls of a public bath-house for men 
and women. In it the water was warmed 
by heating the air in open spaces below 
the floor, and around the bath tanks. 

When we remember that almost every 
home to-day has its bathroom with hot 
and cold water on tap, we wonder that 
the habit of daily cleansing the skin of 
the entire body has not become universal. 
You have heard of the country woman 
who, seeing a handsomely tiled bathroom 
next her room in a New York hotel, said 
to her husband, ''Isn't it a pity that this 
isn't Saturday night T^ 

''What kind of a daily bath should 
one take," do you ask! The kind which 
makes you feel most comfortable and 
vigorous ! Many people thrive on a cold 
plunge on rising, followed by brisk rub- 
98 



LETTER SEVEN 

bing with a rough toweh This is a form 
of bath I would hesitate to recommend to 
girls I, have never seen. Some people 
enjoy a very hot bath at bed time and 
sleep well after it; others are kept awake 
by it and are made more sensitive to 
draughts and changes of temperature. 
The morning bath best suited to persons 
of all ages, is probably a quick, hard scrub 
of the body in sections, first with very hot 
and then with cold water, drying each 
part before wetting the next. Th^ entire 
body should be uncovered meanwhile, and 
the rubbing done with enough vigor to 
produce the glow of warmth, even in a cold 
room. Such a bath strengthens the skin, 
improves the circulation of blood, and in- 
vigorates the body in general. A bath- 
room is not required, and very little water 
can be made to answer the purpose. A 
quart each of hot and cold is sufficient if 
two cloths are used and the water is 
99 



HEALTH AND HAPPINESS 

poured over them. A tepid bath is liable 
to leave a person chilly and debilitated. 
I do not recommend it. 

After gymnasium work the "needle 
bath'' hot, followed by a dash of cold 
water, is excellent, and there is the never- 
to-be-omitted weekly or bi-weekly soaking 
bath in very warm water, followed by the 
use of soap at the moment of leaving the 
tub (not before), and a rinse-off with cold 
water. Now and • then a girl feels tired 
and weak after taking any kind of bath, 
and there are always a few days in each 
month when the strongest girl should omit 
the regular bath. To such I recommend 
an all-over rub with a hot, moist towel 
(wet an end and wring into the remain- 
der), followed by a dry one. You may 
observe that I have not suggested the use 
of a ''sponge"; it is because it is so 
difficult to keep sponges clean that they 
are undesirable. 

100 



LETTER SEVEN 

Soap may only be used daily on the 
hands, neck and feet. AVhen applied very 
freely it removes too much of the oil se- 
creted by the skin. Never use highly- 
scented, cheap soaps ! They are too often 
made of waste grease, the smell of which 
would be offensive if it were not covered 
by the perfume (?). Castile soap is gen- 
erally pure, as are the best soaps of any 
of our reliable American firms. 

I know of nothing that has greater 
power than a bad complexion to make a 
proud sensitive girl or woman morbid 
and unhappy. I am glad that I had 
such an experience for a short time when 
I was young, for I understand, as I could 
not otherwise, how it makes a girl feel, 
and what a joy it is to recover from the 
condition. That which I have written you 
about the nutrition of body cells and the 
removal of waste, the frequent drinking 
of water, exercise and rest, are of the 
101 



HEALTH AND HAPPINESS 

greatest importance in the production and 
maintenance of a fine complexion. 

The skin of the face is subjected to many 
irritants to which covered parts of the body 
are not exposed. The wind dries it, the 
dust scratches it like sand, and the tiny 
vegetable germs it blows about, get into 
the mouths of the oil-sacs, which not 
only stop them up, but find in them a 
warm protected place in which to grow and 
multiply. As they do this, the sac dis- 
tends until it rises from the surface of the 
skin in which it lies, and becomes white 
or yellow, according to the variety of 
pus germ that found entrance. This is 
called a ' 'fester." If you squeeze it, a 
drop of pus bursts forth. 

If you are in good bodily condition, and 
the skin is well cared for, the gland open- 
ings will be small, and if you do not rub 
germs in from your hand, glove or veil, 
they will not gain entrance. If, however, 
102 



LETTER SEVEN 
your skin is relaxed and its cells poorly 
nourished, (you know that it is made up of 
millions upon millions of epithelial cells), 
the mouths of both its perspiratory and 
oil glands will lie half 
open, ready to entrap 
any germ that comes 
its way. 

Do not touch your 
face, except to wash 
it, or with a perfectly 
clean handkerchief. 
Bathe the face two or 
three times a day, 
first with hot and 
then with cold water ; 
use soap on it only when you have 
been in much dust. A little weak carbolic 
water is a good unirritating disinfectant 
to use at bedtime. It is wise to consult a 
specialist when pimples first appear; give 
attention to it early, just as you should to 
103 




FIG. 34 

Gland in the skin of face, it 

orifice filled with dirt, 

making the so-called 

"black heads" 



HEALTH AND HAPPINESS 

every ailment of the body. It is much 
easier to correct a fault of any kind be- 
fore it becomes a habit than afterward. 

Now and then a girl is afflicted by hairs 
growing on the face, and for some reason 
it seems to me the number of women so 
annoyed is becoming larger as the years 
go by. I am sorry to say that at present 
we know of but one way to get rid of 
them safely and certainly and that is by 
the electric needle. Have the little root 
follicles destroyed, only be sure that a 
very fine electric needle is employed, and 
in the hands of one skilled in its use. 

Never experiment with the much vaunted 
lotions and salves on the market, ''for the 
removal of superfluous hairs." While the 
hair down to the root may be destroyed 
by them, it will grow again very soon 
larger and coarser than before. Avoid 
the use of fatty ointments on the face and 
the friction of a veil. When hairs are 
101^ 



LETTER SEVEN 
present, use only tepid water, and avoid 
the use of soap as much as possible, also 
rough wash cloths and towels. 

Above all things, do not stimulate the 
growth of hairs by unhappy thoughts 
about them. I mean to tell you later, 
when I write about the nervous system, 
how the kind of thinking we do af- 
fects the body for good and ill. The skin 
of the face is peculiarly influenced by 
thoughts and emotions, as you may know 
by the rapidity with which its color 
changes under their influence. 

The scalp should be shampooed and the 
hair washed, about once a month to re- 
move the dust that settles on and among 
the hairs. To do it oftener removes too 
much of the oil with which the little 
glands in the scalp strive to keep the hair 
soft and glossy. Soap should be rinsed 
off with great care each time, and when 
dry a little white vaseline or some very 
105 



HEALTH AND HAPPINESS 

pure oil may be carefully applied to 
the scalp with the ti]os of clean fin- 
gers. Friction of the scalp stimulates the 
growth of hair, but the surface skin 
should not be broken by it. Be particular 
to use a brush with rather soft long 
bristles or with a rubber back in which 
the bristles are set, and, above all things, 
wash the brush often — every three days 
at least, in a solution of borax or bicar- 
bonate of soda. 

The finger nails are appendages of the 
skin, and as such need constant care. They 
should be carefully trimmed once or twice 
a week, or filed a little daily. The 
rim around the nail should, as far as pos- 
sible, be kept unbroken to prevent ^'hang 
nails," and do not cut it away unless 
it becomes broken. After the hands 
are thoroughly cleansed and soaked in 
warm, soapy water this rim around the 
nail may be carefully raised with a 
106 



LETTER SEVEN 
small orange-wood or ivory scraper which 
has just been sterilized by boiling. Ee- 
member there is a deep groove at the root 
of the nail in which bacteria may find 
soil for development if the outer layer 
of the skin lining is torn or cut. The 
so-called '' run-around, " which is so pain- 
ful, is caused by pus germs that multiply 
deep down in this gutter. A stab with 
the bristles of a dirty nail-brush is quite 
sufficient to infect the part and inaugurate 
that painful affection. Clean finger nails 
as well as well-kept hair, mark the lady 
and gentleman, while the opposite always 
makes us suspicious of other unclean 
habits. 

Proper care of the teeth is even more 
important than that of the nails and hair, 
for the mouth is the vestibule of the body 
and whatever passes through it carries to 
the stomach such impurities and poisons 
as may have accumulated around the teeth. 
107 



HEALTH AND HAPPINESS 

It is, too, by its moisture, warmtli and 
natural alkalinity, a veritable culture 
chamber for bacteria. 

Decay of teeth is due to the action 
of germs when their protective covering 
of enamel has become broken or other- 
wise destroyed. To keep the mouth and 
teeth in good condition they must be 
thoroughly cleansed morning and night 
with a brush which is neither too soft 
nor too stiff, and which has longer bristles 
at the end than at the middle. The 
motion in cleaning the teeth should 
be made from the gums downward on 
the upper teeth and upward on the 
lower. 

Water that has been subjected to a high 
heat usually contains no disease germs, so 
it is better to use from the hot rather than 
from the cold water tap for cleaning the 
teeth. Apply daily a tooth paste made by 
a reliable house. Dentists advise us not to 
108 



LETTER SEVEN 

use tootli powders unless tliey are very 
fine, smooth, and contain an antiseptic, 
and the mouth must always be well rinsed 
afterward to completely remove either 
paste or powder. 

''Eiggs Disease" begins in the gums 
around teeth which have not been habitu- 
ally well cleansed. Bacteria get into 
the space between gum and tooth — a 
nice, warm place, in which they may 
grow undisturbed. You know how this 
disease causes the teeth to drop out, if 
it is not recognized early and treated by 
a skilled dentist. The care of children's 
teeth from the time they first appear is of 
great importance if they are to serve their 
purpose well. In those countries where 
good dentists are only to be found in 
large cities, the teeth usually fall out 
early, thus not only tending to shorten 
the span of life of the people, but to pro- 
duce ill health and make them seem old 
109 



HEALTH AND HAPPINESS 

long before tlie time Trlien age should 
cause feebleness. 

As I write I am seeing in imagination 
the great army of lovely American girls 
to whom these letters are addrest. In no 
country are there so many as in our own 
dear land. Do, I beg, appreciate the 
privileges that are yours in this best of 
all centuries. Responsibility is the twin 
sister of privilege; you can not escape it, 
therefore strive to meet it with an intelli- 
gence born of knowledge. 



110 



Letter Eight 
HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA 



111 



Letter Eight 

Halifax, Nova Scotia. 
My Dear Girls: 

Up to the present time our sex has not 
shown conspicuous originality in the field 
of scientific investigation. Altlio much 
good work is being done by women in the 
research laboratories of the country, few 
as yet have succeeded in making great 
discoveries. In spite of our shortcomings, 
however, quite a large body of girls and 
women have of late been making one of 
the most daring experiments (?) of the 
age : that of exposing the human body 
covered only by gauze and lace to the cold 
of our northern winters. 

The offices of clothing are threefold: 
1. To cover the body for the promotion 
of morality and decency. 
113 



HEALTH AND HAPPINESS 

2. To protect it from injury, and to aid 
in maintaining tlie normal body tempera- 
ture. 

3. To enhance the attractiveness of the 
individual. 

In conducting the experiment (!) to 
which I have referred, all three of the pur- 
poses of clothing have to some extent been 
lost sight of: 

1. Body coverings have in too many 
instances been insufficient to comply with 
the first requirement. 

2. No regard has been paid to the con- 
servation of body heat. 

3. As to enhancing the beauty of the in- 
dividual — well, tastes differ. 

Physiologists and biologists will tell you 
that most living organisms tend toward 
death through loss of body heat. To make 
good this loss, elaborate chemical changes 
go on within the body. To these I re- 
ferred in my letters on nutrition and 
114 



LETTER EIGHT 

waste. In animals radiation of lieat from 
the body surface is minimized by the 
coverings nature has given them, viz., 
hair, wool, fur and feathers. Man, coming 
into the world without these, has learned 
to replace them by clothing that he adapts 
to the varying climatic conditions to which 
he is subjected, and individual differences 
exist that make it necessary for one person 
to wear more clothing than another. 
Nevertheless, the law of loss of heat by 
radiation, and the need of modifying and 
controlling it by means of body coverings 
remains active, and will as long as the 
structure of the human body continues 
unchanged. Do jou remember, girls, all 
those open mouths of perspiratory tubes 
upon the surface of the skin, through 
which moisture almost constantly exudes? 
To be hygienic, clothing must control the 
rapidity of evaporation of this moisture, 
by causing it to vaporize, slowly in the 
115 



HEALTH AND HAPPINESS 

cold days of winter and rapidly in the 
lieat of summer. In this way loss of 
heat may be prevented when body heat is 
needed, and its rapid dissipation is as- 
sured when the body temperature tends to 
rise too higii. Fibers of silk and wool 
absorb and hold within themselves the 
moisture with which they come in contact, 
permitting it to evaporate slowly, hence 
clothing made of these is peculiarly 
adapted to the needs of the body in winter 
and in the cool days of spring and fall. 
On the other hand, while cotton and linen 
fibers absorb moisture easily, they do not 
hold it, but permit the rapid evaporation 
by which the body is cooled. G-arments 
made of cotton and linen are, therefore, 
adapted for use in warm weather, and to 
those w^ho naturally generate heat rapidly. 
A mixture of wool or silk, with a little 
cotton or linen makes a more durable fab- 
ric than either wool or silk alone, and does 
116 



LETTER EIGHT 

not greatly lessen the value of either as 
a conserver of body heat. Garments of 
light weight, are more hygienic than the 
heavy ones which were more commonly 
worn when woven miderwear was first 
introduced than at the present time. AYhen 
needed, the addition of a second garment 
gives more warmth than can be derived 
from one thick one, and it permits the 
wearer to adapt clothing to the varying 
atmospheric temperatures. The ''union 
suit" is very popular, and deservedly so, 
since it covers the entire body equally and 
with great smoothness. For winter wear 
woven undergarments should extend quite 
down to the ankles, because the extremities, 
being farther from the heart and large 
blood-vessels, need to be clothed more 
warmly than the trunk, rather than less, 
as is a common custom among girls. Loose 
cotton drawers may be worn in winter in 
addition to those of silk or wool, and 
117 



HEALTH AND HAPPINESS 

stockings should not l3e as thin as lace, 
but of substantial weave. Abundant evi- 
dence has accumulated to make the truth 
demonstrable that frequent chilling of the 
legs and feet is productive of painful men- 
struation and sometimes of serious dis- 
eases of the pelvic organs. 

We come now to the question of the cor- 
set, and this is a question indeed, for the 
garment has both good and bad qualities, 
and is one of long-lived popularity. When 
made of thin porous material that does 
not imprison the moisture of the skin 
beneath it; when well fitted and cut low 
to avoid injury to the breasts and nipples ; 
when sufficiently long in front to reach 
quite down to the pelvic bone; when ad- 
justed lying down, not standing, as is the 
common custom, the corset need not be in- 
jurious to a healthy mature woman. In 
some conditions, indeed, it meets definite 
needs as a surgical appliance. The oppo- 
118 



LETTER EIGHT 

site of this, a short, badly-fitted corset, 
made of impervious material, tight at the 
belt line or just below it, and adjusted in 
a standing position, is one of the most 
harmful garments a woman can wear. A 
young girl, in my opinion, should never 
wear a corset. It constricts and unbalances 
the body, thus interfering with free mus- 
cular movement, and preventing natural 
growth and development. What would you 
think if the young men you know, who are 
growing into splendid physical manhood, 
should put on corsets? They would much 
better do it than you. The effect upon the 
future of our race would, I believe, be less 
harmful. 

Dr. Robert L. Dickinson, of Brooklyn, 
N. Y., who has made an exhaustive study 
of the corset and its influence, does not 
like it any better than I do. He says, ''if a 
corset is to be worn, it should be made with 
the cloth cut on the bias in front, its lines 
119 



HEALTH AND HAPPINESS 

all running a little diagonally instead of 
vertically ; it must be low, or else quite high 
across the breasts, so that it will not strike 
them, but will serve as a support if they 
are heavy ; below, it must reach quite to the 
pubic bone; it must be adjusted while 
lying down and when unfastened must not 
spring apart more than two inches, even 
when a long breath has been taken. ' ' In all 
this I quite agree with him. There is 
much more that can be said for and against 
the corset. My last word to you is : do 
not wear a corset before you are sixteen 
or eighteen, nor then if you can make up 
your mind not to do so. If you do put it 
on, wear it loose and keep your clothing 
loose over it. Have two lacers, one for the 
lower half, which you may draw fairly 
snug; the other for the part above the 
hip line, which should always be so loosely 
drawn that you can almost turn around 
in it. 

120 



LETTER EIGHT 

^^Wliat may we wear?" I hear you ask. 
Adhere to underwaists similar to those 
you wore in childhood, to which the skirts 
fasten. They can be made very pretty 
and dainty, and they are hygienic. The 
so-called ''tape girdle" on the market, 
when worn loosely, marks the belt line, 
only your skirt must be buttoned to a 
waist of some sort at the back, to keep it 
from pressing on the front of the abdo- 
men when you sit down. Clothing hang- 
ing from the shoulders is best of all. 
There are several styles of well-shaped, 
ready-made, hygienic waists on sale which 
are desirable if you can find those that 
fit you. 

Be careful not to wear high, stiff col- 
lars and tight neckbands. At the present 
time we are seeing quite too many en- 
larged thyroid glands (goiter). If there 
were as many in men as in women, we 
should certainly attribute them to the pres- 
121 



HEALTH AND HAPPINESS 

sure of tight collars. The thyroid gland 
lies across the front of the neck just 
below its middle, and, the blood flowing 
through, receives from it substances that 
have a profound influence upon the work 
of the body. The habit of dropping the 
head toward a book or sewing, is harmful 
to this gland; so also is that of thrusting 
the neck forward with elevated chin. Re- 
member the imaginary trolley wheel on the 
top of your head when you are studying, 
and ''keep it up to its wire." You should 
have a "book rest" to place on the table or 
desk before you on which to support your 
book. All school desks should be made 
with such rests to keep girls from doub- 
ling over at their work. Utilize a pile of 
books for the purpose if you can get noth- 
ing better. 

Now a word about footwear. Our feet 
are made for use, not for show. There- 
fore they should be drest comfortably, and 
1^2 



LETTER EIGHT 

with boots sufficiently thick to prevent the 
feet from becoming; chilled. The soles of 
shoes should be wide and quite straight 
along the inner side. The heels should be 
broad and of medium height. High, or 
very low heels tend to produce bad 
habits of posture and ill health. Rubber 
overshoes should always be worn when 
the ground is wet ; it is better to do so 
than to wear soles thick enough to keep 
the feet dry without overshoes, as wet 
leather absorbs too much heat from the 
feet while drying. Slippers and low shoes 
may safely be worn indoors, but not 
in the street, except in the summer time. 
I shall not venture to give you much 
advice about outside clothing, gowns, hats, 
etc., except to beg you most earnestly not 
to adopt foolish and extreme fashions. I 
used to think that American women were 
sufficiently developed mentally to have the 
ballot given them, but since so many good 
123 



HEALTH AND HAPPINESS 

women have of late worn insnfficient cloth- 
ing and followed fashions which tend to 
immorality, I have had some doubt about it. 
It remains for you, girls, to make fashion 
a servant and benefactor rather than the 
taskmistress it is to-day. Do not forget 
that a woman's dress is her exponent and 
interpreter, for very few of those we meet 
ever know the real you and the real me. 
Too often we oblige them to form an 
opinion of us which is quite erroneous, 
because we are so disguised and misrep- 
resented by our dressmakers and milliners. 
It would be ideal to have only those 
persons make our outside garments who 
know and love us, for then they would be 
able to make them express what is best in 
us. Women's clothing may be more cum- 
bersome than that of men, but what sort 
of place would the world be with no more 
color in dress, than that which is given by 
men's clothing! Cherish your exquisite 



LETTER EIGHT 

colors, yonr dainty fabrics, and as much 
of flowing grace of outline as suitability 
to use and prevailing fashion will permit, 
but refuse to be drest in styles which are 
unbecoming, and immoral in their tendency. 
To be and to seem, truly feminine and 
altogether womanly, whatever our position 
or occupation in life, should be our high 
and constant aim as American women. 



125 



Letter Nine 
WOLFVILLE, NOVA SCOTIA 



127 



Letter Nine 

WoLFviLLE, Nova Scotia. 
My Dear Girls : 

■ I wonder if you know liow closely the 
nervous system is connected with all parts 
of the body. The relation is so intimate 
that if it were possible to dissolve out 
every other organ and tissue without dis- 
turbing it, we should have left, in nerves 
and their many minute divisions, a perfect 
tracery of every part of the human body. 
This indicates that organs and tissues 
throughout the body are dependent upon 
the nervous system for power to perform 
their functions. On the other hand the 
wonderful telephone-like ' ' receivers, ' ' 
found at the surface ends of nerves, 
show that the nervous system itself de- 
129 




HEALTH AND HAPPINESS 

pends upon messages from without, for 
its ability to conduct the work of the 
body. 

Like all the other parts which I have 
described to you, the nervous system is 
made up of microscopic cells arranged in 
groups, and held together 
by intercellular substance. 
From many of these cells 
project tine thread-like fi- 
bers, which not only connect 
Teiep™e-nke re- them with other brain cells, 
Zr r.Z:Z but when prolonged outward 
finger tip. ^^^^ ^^^^^^^ -^^^ buudlcs, be- 

come nerves. These projection fibers are 
so exactly alike as they run along in the 
nerves, that even under a powerful micros- 
cope you could detect no difference in their 
structure, and yet some of them convey 
messages from the surface of the body 
inward to the spinal cord and brain, 
while others only carry messages out- 
130 



LETTER NINE 
ward from nervous tissue cells to muscle 
fibers. 

It was a notable day when Sir Charles 
Bell demonstrated the fact that one set of 
nerve-fibers is sensory and the 
other motor, and that, altho 
they may be bound together 
in a nerve bundle, neither is 
competent to assume the func- 
tion of the other. 

The brain, spinal cord and 
nerves which proceed from 
them are called the '^ cerebro- 
spinal nervous system." A 
number of smaller groups of 
cells, belonging to the nervous 
system, lie along the spinal 
column within the chest and 
abdomen and in other places. 
These have quite a different 
function, for they preside 
over the work performed by 
131 



m 



m 



A nerve split 
lengthwise 



Sensory lines 
?nding in brain 
(purely dia- 
grammatic). 



Sensory fibers 
entering cord 
from skin 




Motor lines 

starting from 

brain outward 



Motor fibers 

leaving the 

cord to end in 

musrles 



37 — DIAGRAM OF THE SPIXAL CORD AXD BRAIN 
Showing sensory fibers entering on left and motor 
fibers leaving brain on the right 



LETTER NINE 
the organs of the body, and have nothing- 
whatever to do with sensation and body 
movement. To these small masses the 
name ganglionic nervous system has been 
given, because the cells of which they 
are made up, and the fibers which proceed 
from and connect them, form ganglia or 
chains. The work of this smaller section 
of the nervous system, altho less showy 
than that of the cerebro-spinal, is quite 
as important. 

The two systems are connected by ex- 
quisitely arranged nerve-fibers which en- 
able them to work in harmony with each 
other, and to unite in doing some kinds of 
work, as that of controlling the amount of 
blood which shall enter the capillaries of 
a region at a given time. For instance, 
when the usual hour for a meal arrives 
more blood must be sent to the stomach 
to supply the necessary nutriment to the 
gland-cells which secrete pepsin, rennin, 
133 



HEALTH AND HAPPINESS 

and acid required to digest the incom- 
ing food, and it is the office of these 
vaso-motor nerves, as they are called, to 
see that it goes there in proper amount. 
At the same time impulses from the 
ganglionic system are sent to the secreting 
cells in the stomach wall to stimulate them 
into activity. A little later motor im- 
pulses from the cerebro-spinal centers 
arrive, and set the muscle fibers in the 
stomach walls contracting. By means of 
these contractions the food which the 
stomach contains is moved about, mixed 
with the gastric secretion, and finally car- 
ried into the intestines beyond. Thus it 
is, that while more or less separate and 
distinct in structure and function, the 
cerebro-spinal and ganglionic systems are 
yet one, and together conduct the import- 
ant work which the organs of the body 
carry on. 

The cells which make up the nervous 
134 



LETTER NINE 
system are the most delicate and easily 
injured of any in the human body. They 
are also more dependent upon a constant 
supply of nutrient material for their power 
to function than are other cells. 

The blood with which the brain is 
nourished, reaches it through four large 
arteries. Inside the skull these send com- 
municating branches to each other, so that 
if one line becomes closed, the others are 
able to maintain the blood supply until 
it is again open. An elaborate system of 
veins, some channeled in the interior of 
the bones of the skull, provides a free 
exit for the blood that enters, thus safe- 
guarding the brain from harmful pres- 
sure, due to an over accumulation within 
its vessels. 

Occasionally it happens that the heart 
temporarily ceases to contract with suf- 
ficient force to fill the blood-vessels of the 
brain. This produces the partial or com- 
135 



HEALTH AND HAPPINESS 

plete unconscioTisness whicli we know as 
faintness or fainting. The skin of the 
face becomes ghastly white, telling the 
tale of lack of blood in the head, and the 
pulse at the wrist is almost or qnite im- 
perceptible. Altho this condition is start- 
ling, it is not usnally attended by much 
danger, for the heart does not really stop 
beating, and soon takes up its work again 
with renewed energy. It is, however, very 
important to retain in the brain as much 
as possible of the blood already there, as 
well as to make it easy for the heart to 
send to it a new supply, and so, when a 
person is faint, we lower the head and 
loosen the clothing around the neck and 
chest. Every one ought to know that to 
drop the head upon the knees, or to stoop 
as if to pick something from the floor, will 
usually prevent complete fainting with all 
the annoyance it entails. It is a great 
mistake to get up and attempt to walk 
136 



LETTER NINE 
when faint, as it hastens the emptying 
of the vessels of the brain, and increases 
the trouble. To try to descend a flight of 
steps in this condition is a very dangerous 
procedure and should never be attempted. 
Do not allow yourselves to become fright- 
ened should a slight faintness come on, for 
fear will precipitate that which you dread. 
Just drop your head low and assure your- 
self that it will quickly pass over. 

Sometimes the walls of the blood-vessels 
become weakened by disease, and in 
middle-aged and old people it is not un- 
common for a vessel in the brain to break, 
producing the condition called apoplexy, 
or hemorrhage into the brain tissue. If 
the broken vessel chances to be small, its 
rupture may not cause death, altho a tem- 
porary parah^sis of some of the muscles 
of the body is likely to result with loss of 
sensation. The human body, however, 
manifests a wonderful power of repair, 
137 



HEALTH AND HAPPINESS 

and when anything happens within it, the 
cell workmen in charge of its repair-shops, 
so to speak, hasten to the spot, and, if 
possible, mend it up, making it as good as 
new. 

By an economic grouping of cells and 
communicating fibers the work of the 
brain is carried on in regions or centers 
more or less distinct from each other. For 
instance, the cells that preside over the 
sense of smell are located in that portion 
of the brain that lies above the ears, 
whereas the centers for hearing lie far- 
ther back. The optic groups of cells are 
located at the back and lower part of the 
hemispheres. Near the center of the brain 
are two important masses of cells that re- 
ceive for distribution to their appropriate 
centers, all the incoming messages on sen- 
sory lines, while other groups above them 
are responsible for the work of starting 
motor impulses outward. Behind the fore- 
138 




FIG. 38 — DIAGRAM OF HUMAN BRAIN 
Psychic region shaded 




FIG. 39— DOG'S BRAIN 
Psychic region shaded 



139 



HEALTH AND HAPPINESS 

head and above the ears are the frontal 
lobes of the brain, Trliere lie grouped the 
psychic cells, whose great function is to 
think, to reason, to philosophize. The 
emotions, the will, memory, and the cen- 
ters that make articulate speech possible — 
all that elevates man above the beast, and 
allies him with his Creator, are centered 
in this portion of the brain. To them 
come lines of communication from the 
other regions I have mentioned, and from 
them pass to motor-cells the projection 
fibers by which muscular movement is 
accomplished. 

The spinal cord is a sort of "subway'' 
for the transmission of motor and sen- 
sory fibers between brain and body; it 
also contains nerve centers more or less 
independent of those in the brain. Along 
the front of the cord the motor fibers are 
spread, while the sensory fibers form a 
band down the back of it. Through small 
140 



LETTER NINE 
bony openings along the sides of the canal, 
both motor and sensory nerve fibers pass 
to and from muscles 
and skin. 

Through orifices in 
the bones of the skull, 
twenty-four nerves 
pass out from the 
brain without going by 
way of the spinal cord. 
These are the nerves 
from the centers I have 
described, which pre- 
side over the special 
senses. Added to these 

FIG. 40 
are the nerves that a motor nerve, showing its 

constituent fibers and the 
control the muscles in ■ plate-like "transmitters" at 

their muscle attachment 

the heart and stomach 
walls, the diaphragm, and those that move 
the eyelids and the muscles which give ex- 
pression to the face. If from disease of the 
bone through which they pass, or from 
141 




HEALTH AND HAPPINESS 

other canses these nerves are injured 
at their point of exit, or become sepa- 
rated from their centers in the brain, or 
if their connection with the psychic 
cells is broken, their efficiency is at an 
end. 

Possibly yon may sometime have seen 
a person, who, after a severe inflammation 
of the ear, has not only lost the sense of 
hearing, but also the power to move the 
muscles of the face on that side. The eye 
remained open in spite of every possible 
effort to close it, and in laughing the 
mouth drew toward the opposite side. The 
nerve of hearing and the motor nerve to 
the face muscles were destroyed where 
they pass out through that part of the 
skull in which the bone became diseased, 
and, of course, nothing could be done to 
restore either the sense of hearing or the 
power to move facial muscles. I have given 
you this illustrative case girls, that you 
142 



LETTER NINE 
may realize the gravity of the affections 
that involve the orifices of the cranial 
nerves. Always remem- 
ber that a good surgeon, 
if called early, can pre- 
vent the destruction of 
those important nerves, 
even tho the bone may be- 
come diseased. 

The brain of a new- 
born baby is almost en- 
tirely undeveloped. It 
reminds one of a beauti- 
ful field of untrodden 
snow. Those nerve paths 
only are open that are ^^^ ^^ 

necessary to the process- l— Nerve cell in the brain 
2 — Cell poles 

es of life, such as breath- 3— Nucleus 

4 — -Fiber -which, joined 

ing, swallowing, sucking, with others, win 

make a nerve 

kicking and crying. As 
the nervous system develops and stimuli 
from without reach it, new paths are made 
143 




HEALTH 



Surface 
of Brain 



Nerve 
Fibres 



Nerve 




-BRAIN PATHS 

144 



AND HAPPINESS 

between c e n - 
ters, and one by 
one they con- 
nect with the 
psychic and mo- 
tor cells, until 
that once al- 
most trackless 
field, becomes 
covered with 
paths over 
which messages 
fly with light- 
ning rapidity. 

Has your 
mother ever 
told you how 
she felt when 
the first smile 
flickered across 
your face in re- 
sponse to her 



LETTER NINE 
repeated efforts to elicit it? Do you know 
what that baby smile of yours signified? It 
meant that your brain lines were open. 
You had seen her face, heard her voice, 
formed a tiny concept, and had sent a mes- 
sage out to the muscles of the face, which 
proclaimed the fact. Your mother's heart 
was glad, because at that moment she be- 
came assured that your psychic cells were 
normal. Intelligence and reason waited 
only for time and the necessary stimuli 
from without, for their development. 

When the brain tissue is imperfectly 
formed the time is long, ah, how wearily 
long, ere the answering smile appears, and 
alas, it may never come ! Is there anything 
more sad than a well-formed human body 
with psychic cells incapable of develop- 
ment! Yes, girls, there is! A naturally 
perfect brain, possest of all the potential- 
ities for good, but in which those qualities 
of mind hold sway that degrade and drag 
145 



HEALTH AND HAPPINESS 

its possessor down to a condition below 
that of irresponsible brutes — this is worse, 
a thousand times worse, than an unde- 
veloped and unthinking' brain. 

I have written you this long story about 
the structure of the nervous system for a 
purpose. I wish you to realize your re- 
sponsibility for the care and right man- 
agement of your own. You have seen that 
every organ and tissue of the body is de- 
pendent upon the nervous system; that 
your ability to think, to learn, to appre- 
ciate the beautiful; that your conception 
of God, the Creator of the body, and your 
hope of eternal life, are all yours by virtue 
of the psychic cells with which you have 
been endowed. You know that an organ 
or part can only function well, when prop- 
erly nourished and when given opportunity 
for rest and recuperation. More than any 
other part of the human body the nervous 
system is dependent upon nutrition, exer- 
146 



LETTER NINE 
cise and rest for its health and ability to 
perform its varied functions. 

More promptly than any other tissue 
this system suffers from waste substances 
and poisons coursing in the blood, from 
lack of oxygen, from the cutting down of 
the water supply of the body, and from 
continued bodily and mental strain. It 
behooves us all, then, to study the needs 
of the nervous system and the laws un- 
der which it acts, that we may make our 
lives conform to these as far as in us lies. 
We ought to surround ourselves with such 
mental stimuli as will call forth the best 
nervous reactions, and avoid as we would 
^'the plague" those influences that by 
suggestion are likely to prove harmful to 
ourselves or to others. 

Into the hands of ignorant and un- 
trained parents, both rich and poor, come 
the little babies with brain fields untrod- 
den. Instead of the wise laying out of 
147 



HEALTH AND HAPPINESS 

paths, and the cultivation of those psychic 
cells that make orderly living easy, sug- 
gestions that tend to evil, are permitted to 
reach them from the right and from the 
left. Stinmlation of the nervons system, 
while it is yet too incomi3lete to bear it; 
late honrs, improper food, nnder and over- 
feeding, and many other things add their 
detrimental influences. Then comes the 
school life, with its long hours, and too 
often its wrong methods ; its teachers who 
lack practical knowledge of the body struc- 
ture in general, and the nervous system in 
particular; its crowding and cramming, 
and its attempt to make all young minds 
fit into the same mold. 

Do not let this treatment of children go 
on, girls. When you become women you 
will make a great army, and an army can 
conquer where single-handed we fail. You 
can change conditions in American homes, 
in schools, in society. To that end let every 
148 



LETTER NINE 
girl wlio reads this, determine to do her 
part toward creating an environment for 
children, that will help to make better citi- 
zens and a stronger nation. Begin with 
your own thought life, for our thoughts 
are the mother of our deeds. They have 
extension and diffusion lines throughout 
the body, too delicate and subtle to be 
demonstrated, but which affect it for good 
or ill. 

You doubt this, do you? Have you ever 
watched children on the street when a rol- 
licking tune was being ground out of a 
hand organ? Their feet at first moved 
lightly, and then began to dance, keeping 
time with the music. Your own step 
changed, unconsciously, as you passed, 
and you would have understood had you 
stopt to think about it, why the long day's 
march of a regiment of soldiers is made 
easy by the music of a band. Enter a 
cathedral or a great church when the 
149 



HEALTH AND HAPPINESS 

deep-toned organ rolls ont its slow and 
measured notes. The feeling* which takes 
possession of you is one of solemnity and 
awe; the world outside fades from your 
thought; prayer becomes easy. It is be- 
cause organ music affects brain and body 
in this way that it has been introduced 
into churches the world over. You have 
only to compare it with the music of the 
ball-room, to be sure that it moves from 
psychic cells body-ward, on different dif- 
fusion lines. 

Let us consider the effect upon the body 
of other psychic states. You were perhaps 
hungrily eating your dinner one day, when 
a telegram was brought you containing 
the sad news of the sudden death of your 
best beloved friend. Did you go on eat- 
ing! No, your appetite suddenly left you 
and digestion stopt, your face became 
pale, soon your chest heaved and tears 
began to fall. "Why this sudden change? 
150 



LETTER NINE 
the effect of the sad news upon the psychic 
cells was conducted outward to the body 
on many lines ; to the secreting glands ; to 
1 



Two cells filled 
with secretion. 
Highly magnified 



Secreting cells 
on gland wall 




FIG. 43— A SECRETING GLAXD IN THE MUCOUS MEM- 
BRANE LINING THE STOMACH 

the muscles in the stomach walls ; to the 
skin ; to the muscles of the chest and face ; 
to the vaso-motor nerves that control the 
blood supply to the capillaries in the re- 
gion of the eyes and to the tear glands. 
That which you thought and felt was dif- 
151 



HEALTH AND HAPPINESS 

fused throughout your body, teraporarily 
affecting the function of nearly every part. 

niustrations like these might be multi- 
plied almost indefinitely to prove that sug- 
gestions which reach the brain from with- 
out have power to impart to the body a 
sense of lightness and well-being, or to 
interfere with its nutrition and lower its 
vitality. 

The body itself is almost as fertile a 
source of suggestions as the world outside, 
many of which stir activities within the 
brain, that, as they pass out again on body 
lines, are highly detrimental. The condi- 
tion which you have heard called hysteria 
is one of these. In this state the whole 
body, as well as the brain, becomes unduly 
responsive. It is like a pair of unruly 
horses with an incompetent driver behind 
them, some one else needs to take the reins 
until the driver — the will — becomes bet- 
ter trained and the horses less restive. 
152 



LETTER NINE 

There is reason to believe that the num- 
ber of cells in the brain that undergo de- 
velopment, even in those individuals who 
are most intelligent and learned, is far 
below the whole number that it contains, 
and which might be developed, if life were 
long enough and the needed stimuli could 
reach them. Heredity, environment and 
education, together with the choices and 
decisions of the individual himself, decide 
the development of specific brain cells. 

The psychic cells in which are located 
the emotions of fear, anger, envy, jealousy, 
etc., respond early and easily to stimula- 
tion. This is probably due to the fact that 
in primitive man and in animals these cells 
were more often stimulated than others. 
It is an unfortunate inheritance of our 
race, for unless reason and other mental 
qualities are cultivated to control their 
activities, before we are aware they as- 
sume a command that is fatal to the best 
153 



HEALTH AND HAPPINESS 

development of the brain and body. One 
of the first things for us all to do, there- 
fore, is to close off as far as possible the 
paths that lead to and from these harmful 
emotion centers. The cells which preside 
over self-esteem, self-confidence and self- 
ishness also belong to the number of those 
whose paths need to be guarded most 
carefully and continually, because their 
over-stimulation works injury to character. 
There is little danger, on the other hand, 
of the over-development of the psychic 
cells that make us honest, courageous and 
persevering, or of those that preside over 
the higher intellectual activities of the 
mind. 

In my first letters, girls, I urged upon 
you the importance of keeping your bodies 
symmetrical, and I endeavored to give 
you the teaching that would enable you to 
do so. I now urge upon you the greater 
importance of acquiring that fine mental 
154 



LETTER NINE 
poise which assures to its possessor a 
place of influence and helpfulness in the 
world, and I have suggested some of the 
ways by which you may attain it. In 
closing, may I say to you that I know of 
nothing that possesses such power to 
steady the mind as a sense of nearness to 
God and an intimate personal relation 
with Him formed early in life. We know 
that we are dependent upon Him for that 
which we are, and all that we can be. It, 
therefore, is but reasonable that we should 
acquaint ourselves with Him and permit 
Him to guide us as we endeavor to find 
the path that leads to Health and Happi- 
ness. 



155 



Letter Ten 
JAFFREY, NEW HAMPSHIRE 



157 



Letter Ten 
Jaffkey, New Hampshiee. 

My Bear Girls: 

A whole year has pa>3sed since I wrote 
to you from Wolfville, Nova Scotia. My 
vacation came to an end too soon, to permit 
me to complete the series of letters that I 
had planned to write. You are now a year 
older, and doubtless you will understand 
and appreciate my remaining letters bet- 
ter than you could have done a year ago. 

This is to be a real heart-to-heart letter 
— one I should have found it difficult to 
write while we were moving about so 
much. 

We are now spending a few days in one 
of the most quiet and delightful spots in 
New England, and, as I write this, I am 
159 



HEALTH AND HAPPINESS 

sitting on the steps of an empty cottage 
at the edge of a beauifnl wood. A chat- 
tering squirrel is the only living thing 
near, so I feel that I am writing to each 
of you girls individually, and therefore, 
can consider without fear of being misun- 
derstood, the most sacred and beautiful 
things which concern the human body and 
our lives. 

The earnest faces of two hundred col- 
lege girls come before me at this moment, 
as I saw them looking into mine some 
months ago while I spoke to them about 
''Woman's Mission and Her Physical 
Preparation For It." The close and sym- 
pathetic attention they gave, throughout 
my address and the kind words they 
spoke to me afterward, encourage me to 
hope that you will welcome my teaching 
as they did. 

In explaining the meaning of the term 
''Woman's Mission" I gave them this 
160 



LETTER TEN 

definition, wliicli I some time ago formu- 
lated: ''To impersonate and promote 
jDurity, lionesty, temperance, unselfishness, 
gentleness and liigli, Christian, intellectual 
and aesthetic culture; to cooperate with 
man in home-making, child-bearing, rear- 
ing and educating, and in advancing all 
the best interests of mankind." 

The first part of this definition indicates 
what we should all aim to be, and do you 
know, if every girl and woman in the 
world were to live up to this standard we 
should be such a great and overwhelming 
force, that we could at once raise the 
moral life of the world to its ideal place. 

It is about the second part of the defini- 
tion, however, that I wish to write in this 
letter. You may think that you do not 
need this teaching for a while, but just as 
the farmer prepares his ground and sows 
his seeds long before he can hope to raise 
grain, so you need now to be preparing 
161 



HEALTH AND HAPPINESS 

for TToman's God-given work, the noblest 
and greatest that is done in the world, 
viz., home-making and child-bearing. 

Have you ever thought what would hap- 
pen if no more children should be born 
for one hundred years? At the end of 
that time there would probably not be one 
human being on the face of the earth. 
New York City with its soaring buildings, 
Eome and Florence with their historic 
treasures — all the cities of the world would 
stand silent and desolate. 

Home-making in cooperation with the 
one man a woman holds most dear, and 
child-bearing, rearing and educating, while 
not woman's only mission, is her highest 
one, not alone to jDopulate great cities, but 
to people them with men and women in 
whom she has implanted high ideals and 
who are strong in purpose in the direction 
of "purity, honesty, temperance and high 
intellectual and Christian culture." 
162 



LETTER TEN 

Fortunately, while preparing for this, a 
girl is also fitting herself to undertake 
almost any other work in life, for mothers 
need to know everything that can be 
learned. In this letter I can only write 
about the necessary physical preparation 
for the beautiful life before you. 

In all I have heretofore written about 
body-cells, I have not mentioned the two 
particular groups which I shall now de- 
scribe. The number of cells that they con- 
tain is not too great to be counted, tho 
I doubt if it has ever been done. These 
two groups are safely hidden away in 
the center of the pelvis of girls and women 
and are called ovaries, the microscopic 
cells they contain are ovules. The ovaries 
are made up of a framework of fibrous 
tissue in which lie the ovules in their 
Graafian follicles, as their enveloping sacs 
are called. These follicles, lined with 
epithelial cells^ are surrounded by capil- 
163 



HEALTH AND HAPPINESS 

lary blood-vessels. In size tlie ovaries do 
not measure more than one and a half 
inches in length by three-quarters of an 
inch in breadth. In sha^De they resemble 
almonds or lima beans, and weigh but 
little more than good-sized ones. 

Each little ovule is made up of the same 
proximate principles which we found in 
other body-cells, viz., water, protein, car- 
bohydrate, fat and mineral salts, and yet 
under conditions which God has arranged, 
marvelous changes may take place in these 
cells, changes which, when once begun, do 
not cease until a dear little baby is placed 
in its waiting mother's arms. 

Let me tell you a story. One hot Satur- 
day evening long ago, before any of you 
were born, I suspect, a friend and I sat 
down before our microscopes to examine 
some material that our professor in the 
summer school of biology had that after- 
noon given us. In the glasses before us 
164 



LETTER TEN 

floated some whitish granular specks ; un- 
der the microscope we at first saw only 
small, clear, round cells, each having in 
or near its center a nucleus. Soon, how- 
ever, we observed moving cells, also, many 
of which looked like living organisms as 
they propelled themselves across the field 
of the microscope. In shape each of these 
tiny cells was oval and had attached to one 
end a whip-like prolongation, by the lash- 
ing motion of which it propelled itself. I 
saw one of those curious moving cells in 
its aimless wanderings come in contact 
with one of the larger nucleated cells first 
observed. Instantly its vibratile motion 
ceased; it rested a moment and then 
pushed its way into the nucleus of the 
larger cell, the whip-like end disappearing 
last through its clear outer layer. Before 
we could express to each other the aston- 
ishment we both felt over this, to us, 
strange occurrence, I noticed a change in 
165 



HEALTH AND HAPPINESS 

the nucleus (the most concentrated part) 
of the cell I was watching. It became 
a little cloudy, and in a moment I 
fancied I saw a line run up its center. 
My friend observed the same in the cell 
she was watching under her microscope. 
The line deepened to a fissure, and the 
fissure finally divided the nucleus in two. 
I turned to make a diagram of the changes 
I had seen, and when I looked again, an- 
other line forming a right angle with the 
first had appeared, crossing the original 
nucleus. As before, it deepened to a 
fissure and finally cut each tiny mass 
across. Where at first there was but a 
single nuclear speck there were now four. 
This process of division went on until the 
transparent outer portion of each cell was 
crowded with small new cells, and looked 
as if a veil of lace had been drawn over it. 
Soon another change occurred: instead 
of crowding the enclosed sac evenly, these 
166 




Number 1 — "Small, 
clear, round cell 
(ovule), having near 
its center a nucleus " 

Nucleus at center 

Outer circle indicates 

cell membrane 




Number 2 — "It 
rested a moment (the 
sperm cell) and then 
pushed its way into 
the nucleus, the whip- 
like end disappearing 
last " 




Number 3 — "The 
line deepened to a fis- 
sure and the fissure 
finally divided the nu- 
cleus in two " 





Number 4 — "Where 
at first there was but 
a small nilclear speck 
there were now four " 



Number 5 — "The 
transparent outer por- 
tion of each cell was 
crowded with small 
new cells " 



FIG. 44 "THE STORY" 

167 



HEALTH AND HAPPINESS 

new cells began to move toTrard the cir- 
cumference of the cell-chamber in which 
they had formed. Then in two ranks they 
gathered, leaving a clear space in the cen- 
ter where the nucleus had been. Then 
an opening of the ranks on one side 
changed the rows of cells from a circle to 
a horseshoe shape. Now, alas, the cell 
outlines began to grow opaque. I watched 
until it became an enlarged dark mass 
which my sight could no longer penetrate. 
Our study ended, we sat in silence, for the 
great m^^stery of life's beginning had 
opened before us. Our professor had put 
into the glasses of water he had given us, 
some small masses of cells which he had 
removed from the bodies of two little ^ ' Sea 
Urchins," as the Echinus is called. They 
were male and female. In the drop of 
warm sea water containing them that we 
placed under our microscopes, the small, 
active sperm cell from the male found the 
168 




Number 6 — Division 
of nucelus, first stage 





Number 7 — Division 
of nucleus, . second Number 8 — Division 

stage of nucleus completed 

Changes in the cell more highly magnified 




ECCHINUS OR SEA URCHIN 
(Dried Shell, life size) 
FIG. 45— THE STORY 

169 



HEALTH AND HAPPINESS 

larger ovule of tlie female, entered it, and 
as a result of this union, the marvelous 
changes began within the nucleus, which 
forever have, and forever will accompany 
the beginning of a new life. Somewhere 
within those microscopic cells was hidden 
the vital formative element, which acting 
under God-given laws, inaugurated the 
building of a new body like those from 
ivhich they came. 

I have told you this story, girls, that 
you may better understand the great and 
sacred office of the organs which I am de- 
scribing. 

Closely connected with the ovaries in the 
pelvis are the two ovarian tubes. They are 
four inches long and have trumpet-shaped 
ends, which open near the ovaries, and are 
bordered by a delicate fringe of finger- 
like processes. The tubes grow smaller 
as they approach the uterus, or womb, 
with the upper and outer angles of which 
170 



LETTER TEN 

they are continuous in structure. So smalJ, 
indeed, is the doorway between the two 
that a cambric needle will scarcely pass. 
The uterus, or womb, is a thick-walled, 
pear-shaped sac which hangs in the center 
of the pelvic cavity with the broad end, 
called fundus, above and tilted a little for- 
ward. 

In addition to the two tiny openings 
into the ovarian tubes the uterus has an 
orifice or mouth located at its lower and 
smaller part. While this opening is larger 
than the two above, it will only permit the 
passage of a small probe. 

The uterine walls are made up of muscle 
fibers, most of which are undeveloped, and 
of fibrous tissue that binds them together 
and gives strength to the organ. A large 
number of blood-vessels traverse the walls 
of the uterus and make a rich capillary 
network within the delicate mucous mem- 
brane that lines it. There are nerves, also^ 
171 



HEALTH AND HAPPINESS 

which, prest upon unduly by over full 
vessels or contracting muscles, cry out, 
so to speak, with pain, just as do those 
in the walls of the intestine when one has 
a colic. 

The uterus is a small organ, not more 

Fundus^--,^^,^^'"-^^ Fallopian 

Tube 




than three and a half inches at its widest 
part by four long. Smaller, you see, than 
a letter of ordinary size, and not much 
heavier, when its blood-vessels are not 
over-distended with blood. Its cavity is 
so small, owing to the thickness of its 
walls, that it will not hold more than a 
teaspoonful or two of fluid. It rests upon 
172 



LETTER TEN 

and is continuous below with the vagina, 
a tube four or five inches long and about 
as large around as the cover of a silk 
umbrella. This tube is simply a passage- 
way to the outside of the body not unlike 
the ^sophaegus, through which food passes 
to the stomach. It is lined with mucous 
membrane and lies in close contact with the 
rectum at the back and the urinary bladder 
in front. So closely is the vagina fastened 
to these organs, and so firm is its floor 
below, that it is about the best support the 
uterus has. Because of the peculiar func- 
tion of the latter it is necessary that it 
shall be very loosely held in place. To ac- 
complish this a layer of peritoneum, as 
the delicate serous lining of the abdomen 
is called, sweeps down and covers the 
fundus of the uterus, thickens as it turns 
backward, clasps the rectum, and is at- 
tached to the front surface of the sacral 
bone. In front it spreads across the back 
173 



HEALTH AND HAPPINESS 

surface of the bladder and fastens to the 
front wall of the pelvis in the same manner. 
These are called the posterior and anterior 
ligaments of the uterus, altho they are not 
true ligamentous structures at all. Two 
more folds of the peritoneum which en- 
velop the uterus, spread out over the tubes 
and ovaries, and fasten to the bony pelvis 
at its sacral borders. These folds are called 
the broad ligaments. They have been com- 
pared to the open wings of a bat, the 
uterus representing its body. 

In addition to these various loose folds 
there are two real ligaments. These are 
round and start from the sides of the 
uterus just below the ovarian tubes, turn 
upward and forward, pass through a small 
canal in the muscles of the abdominal wall 
along the upper border of the pelvis, 
spread out and fasten to the thick skin in 
front of the pubic bones. When these 
ligaments are well developed they serve 
174^ 



LETTER TEN 

as ''stay lines" to prevent the fundus of 
the uterus from falling backward against 
the rectum. In delicate girls who have 
played with dolls and read books instead 
of running and climbing and doing gym- 
nastic work, all these uterine supports 
usually lack strength and firmness. 

I have described these organs in detail 
because their great function is reproduc- 
tion; they are the wonderful organs of 
motherhood, the crowning glory of wom- 
an's life. "I can not tell you how happy 
your teaching has made my married life," 
many a young mother has said to me. This 
makes me feel sure that I am doing you, 
girls, a kindness in giving you the same 
teaching. 

We must return now to the fortunes of 
that tiny maturing ovule which in the 
early part of this letter I left in its little 
Graafian follicle, to tell you the story of 
the beginning of the little sea urchin's life. 
175 



HEALTH AND HAPPINESS 

The ovary that contained that ovule, and 
I have no means of knowing whether it 
was the right or left one, belonged, we will 
say, to a girl about thirteen years of age. 
Far away in her nervous system an order 
had been given some time before for 
the development of the organs of repro- 
duction to begin, and in accordance with it 
a larger amount of blood than usual had 
been periodically sent to them. The breasts 
being a part of the mother organs, began 
to grow plump and round under the in- 
creased nutrition; in fact, the whole body 
felt the influence of the new life awakening 
in the pelvis. As a result of the increased 
supply of blood the mucous membrane of 
the uterus thickened. Fluid began to collect 
in the cavity of that Graafian follicle, and 
one day when it had become full the fringe- 
like fingers on the trumpet-shaped end of 
the ovarian tube swelled up and clung to 
the ovary as if afraid it would get away 
176 



LETTER TEN 

from them. Then the wall of the follicle 
(sac) burst, and out spurted fluid and ma- 
ture ovule straight into the little grasping- 
tube end. The fringe-like fingers let go their 
hold and the little ovule, propelled mainly 
by the contraction of muscles in the wall of 
the tube, began its slow journey through 
the three or four inches of ovarian tube 
to the uterus. You know that nearly all 



FIG. 47 
Ciliated epithelial cells 
from lining of fal- 
lopian tubes 

tubes in the body have muscle fibers in 
their walls ; the ovarian tubes have, in ad- 
dition to these, multitudes of microscopic, 
hair-like projections from the epithelial 
cells with which they are lined. By the 
slow movement of these toward the uterus 
the little cell was helped on its way. 
177 



HEALTH AND HAPPINESS 

About the time the distended follicle in 
the ovary ruptured the capillary vessels 
in the mucous membrane lining, the uterus 
became so distended by the extraordinary 
amount of blood the nervous system had 
sent to the organs of reproduction, that 
they also burst and blood oozed from them 
into the cavity of the uterus. As soon as 
the uterus filled, it emptied into the vagina 
below, through which the blood passed out 
of the body. 

If that young girl's mother had known 
what I am telling you, she would before 
this time have explained to her this won- 
derful process of ovulation and menstrua- 
tion and its relation to motherhood. Had 
she done so, the little girl would not have 
been disturbed or frightened by the sight 
of the blood, as so many are who have 
never heard the story. I told it once to a 
girl of twelve whom I loved, and when 
menstruation came for the first time, in- 
178 



LETTER TEN 

stead of being frightened, she whispered 
joyfully to her mother, ''Now, maybe I'll 
have a dear little baby of my own some 
time. I suppose I can't go to school to- 
day or to dancing-school to-morrow." Her 
mother had the fascinating story-book 
which I had suggested ready for her, and 
she was quite happy in the promise of a 
monthly holiday for a while, at home with 
her sewing and her books. 

You ask me wherefore this elaborate 
periodic process, i.e., the maturing of a 
microscopic ovule and its slow movement 
through the ovarian tube into the uterus 
to dissolve there; this flush of blood and 
rupture of capillary vessels, producing the . 
outflow so troublesome to girls f Many an 
afternoon on a great ocean steamer I have 
watched the ''fire drill" that is conducted 
on deck. When I asked the steward why 
it was necessary to go through it so often 
he said, "We are obliged to do so in order 
179 



HEALTH AND HAPPINESS 

to keep the men ready to act if a fire 
should occur." These monthly activities 
within the pelvis may be compared to that 
fire drill. They are conducted with such 
care and periodicity to prepare for 
motherhood when it shall come. That little 
ovule may sometime — let tis hope only un- 
der the holy condition of marriage — meet 
on its way through the tube a microscopic 
sperm cell with which it will unite as did 
the cells upon my microscope slide, and 
then will begin those marvelous changes 
which end ,in the perfecting of a new be- 
ing. At such a time a large supply of 
blood will need to flow through the pelvic 
vessels, to bring nutrition to the millions 
of fast-forming cells in the body of the 
new little being growing there. The uterus, 
that common cradle of our race, will need 
a lining membrane most delicate and thin, 
ready to fold around the little guest. What 
better could insure both of these condi- 
180 



LETTER TEN 

tions than the monthly distension of the 
uterine vessels with blood, and the monthly 
removal, flake by flake, of the old lining 
membrane of the organ, and its replace- 
ment by a new one? 

Ah, girls, forget small discomforts in 
connection with menstruation. Remember, 
it was planned by God, not alone to per- 
petuate the race, but under right condi- 
tions — bear in mind always that I say 
right conditions — to bring to women that 
deepest and purest joy vouchsafed to nu- 
man beings, viz., motherhood. 



181 



Letter Eleven 
JAFFREY, NEW HAMPSHIRE 



183 



Letter Eleven 

Jaffeey, New Hampshiee. 

Bear Girls: 

In the readjustment of the animal body 
to meet the needs of hnman beings many 
physical losses were sustained, to some of 
which I referred in a former letter. 
Among those losses none were more ad- 
verse to the physical well-being ^ of girls 
and women, than the change from a hori- 
zontally-placed pelvis to one held in an 
upright position. It was almost like turn- 
ing a well furnished one-story house of 
three rooms on end and expecting its con- 
tents to stay in their accustomed places, 
continuing to serve the purposes for which 
they were designed. 

Let me for a moment consider with 
185 



HEALTH AND HAPPINESS 

you what this change meant to our sex. 
In the body of a quadruped the chest and 
pelvis usually lie in the same horizontal 
plane, hence the blood makes its circuit 
from heart to pelvis and back again, un- 
affected by the force of gravity. The ab- 
domen lies in front of, and hangs below 
the pelvic cavity; hence, however low the 
loops of intestine within it may drop, they 
do not encroach upon the organs lying 
behind them in the pelvis. In the quadru- 
ped, the rectum, through which waste ma- 
terials from the digestive tract must pass 
on their way out of the body, is so situ- 
ated that its contents can not by pressure 
interfere with neighboring organs. 

In the upright human body all these fa- 
vorable conditions are changed. The heart 
occupies a place high above the pelvis, 
which makes it necessary for the blood in 
its return journe}^ to flow directly ui)ward 
for a distance of from ten to fifteen inches, 
186 



LETTER ELEVEN 

according to the height of the individual; 
furthermore, the long ovarian veins 
through which in girls and women much 
of this blood passes, are not provided with 
valves to aid in its ascent. In the horizon- 
tally-placed trunk of the quadruped body, 
valves are not needed. Because of 
these anatomical diiferences the return 
flow of blood from the pelvis in the 
human body is liable to be retarded, 
thus causing temporary congestion, pain, 
and under unfavorable conditions, dis- 
ease. The small intestine, as in the 
animal body, hangs in loops that are 
loosely fastened to the spine. Under the 
influence of gravity, bad positions in stand- 
ing and sitting, and tight clothing, these 
intestinal loops easily fall into the up- 
turned pelvic chamber, which lies directly 
beneath them, thereby making undue pres- 
sure upon the organs which it contains. 
The rectum, too, when crowded with fecal 
187 



HEALTH AND HAPPINESS 

matter^ presses upon the organs that lie in 
front of it in the pelvis. 

These unfavorable anatomical changes 
bear more heavily upon woman than man, 
because of the great function of mother- 
hood with which she is endowed. We have 
seen, however, how man by his intellect 
has learned to utilize the forces of nature 
and thereby make good his physical losses ; 
so woman, by a knowledge of her own 
physical structure and its peculiar limita- 
tions, may so direct her life as to over- 
come her inherited physical disabilities, 
attain health of body and the happiness 
that it is her right to enjoy. 

I have such a profound belief, girls, 
in your ability to understand, and your 
willingness to face the situation that con- 
fronts us all, that I am glad of this op- 
portunity to give you the instruction that 
3^ou need; to expect you to control condi- 
tions which you do not understand, and 
avoid dangers of which you have never 
188 



LETTER ELEVEN 

heard, is like expecting a man to run an 
engine or an automobile who has no knowl- 
edge of the mechanism of either. 

I have already explained to yon the 
wonderful processes by which body nutri- 
tion is maintained, and I have told you 
about that other essential of good health, 
the constant and complete removal of 
waste. You know the closeness of the re- 
lation between the various parts of the 
nervous system and the organs of the 
body! You have seen how bad postures 
and tight clothing interfere with free 
movement of the chest in respiration, and 
now that you have learned the location, 
structure and functions of the organs of 
reproduction, you can readily understand 
how bad postures have the power to de- 
form and displace some of those import- 
ant organs. 

Let us first consider the effect of the 
postures that curve the spine and produce 
189 



HEALTH AND HAPPINESS 

' ' round shoulders ' ' and ' ' flat chest. ' ' The 
bend of the body inward at the belt line 
which occurs in these positions lessens the 
space within the abdominal cavity; tight 
clothing adds its influence also, and both 
together crowd the abdominal organs 
downward. The loops of intestine, often 
heavy with digesting food and waste mat- 
terial press heavily upon the uterus, which 
being loosely hung in the middle of the 
pelvis, is crowded downward and finally 
becomes bent upon itself forward or back- 
ward. This may happen at any age, but 
it more commonly occurs during the years 
in which the organs of reproduction are 
imdergoing development, viz., from eleven 
to sixteen. It does not take long for such 
a bend to become permanent, even tho the 
weight of intestines may be removed, and 
it is one of the most common causes of 
menstrual pain. You will easily under- 
stand the mechanism of this if you fill a 
190 



LETTER ELEVEN 

hot-water bag half full, double it at the 
middle, turn it upside down, and see with 
what difficulty the water will run out. The 
uterus is a thick-walled bag into which, 
at the beginning of menstruation blood 
drips from its lining membrane. A bend 
in the wall may imprison this blood b}" 
closing its outlet more or less completely. 
When a hard mass of undigested food ac- 
cumulates in the intestine the pressure it 
produces upon nerves causes muscular 
spasm or colic ; in the stomach it produces 
pain and nausea, which is relieved by 
vomiting, in the uterus imprisoned blood 
produces muscular spasm and cramping 
pains. When the vessels in its walls be- 
come fully distended, the bend straightens, 
opening the outlet for the retained blood. 
With this comes blest relief from pain, but 
each month it returns, because the me- 
chanical cause of it still remains. 

Sometimes the position of the uterus in 
191 



HEALTH AND HAPPINESS 

the pelvis becomes permanently changed 
by intestinal pressure, constipation and 
other canses. The upper part, or fundus, 
turns backward or forward, while its lower 
part moves in the opposite direction: the 
organ is turned on its axis so to speak. 
Such a change of position predisposes the 
uterus to disease and causes more or less 
backache and discomfort, but it seldom 
produces the colic-like pain that accom- 
panies and is dependent upon a flexion or 
bend of the organ upon itself. There are 
many other causes of monthly pain be- 
side bad habits of posture and tight cloth- 
ing, some of which are insufficient or im- 
proper food; too little exercise between 
"periods" and too inuch during menstrua- 
tion, such as playing basket-ball or tennis 
and taking long walks. Cold bathing and 
night study at this time may cause pain; 
also the strain of school examinations and 
social dissipation. 
In order to overcome the handicap which 
192 



LETTER ELEVEN 

nature has placed upon you in common 
with other girls and women, you will need 
to observe carefully the following rules : 

1. Keep the pelvic cavity out from un- 
der the iveiglit of the intestines by retain- 
ing in standing, walking and sitting the 
posture of your childhood, which was with 
pelvis held a little higher at the back than 
in front. 

2. Give to the organs of reproduction 
the same consideration during menstrua- 
tion you ought always to give to the 
stomach after a hearty meal, viz., a rea- 
sonable degree of rest. 

3. If the movement of blood from the 
pelvis back to the heart is slow and diffi- 
cult, causing pain from congestion, make 
it more easy by lying down, thus placing 
the pelvis and heart on the same level. 
This should only be needed during the first 
day of menstruation, and during the early 
years of menstrual life. When the 
organs have become accustomed to the 

193 



HEALTH AND HAPPINESS 

periodic filling of their vessels with blood 
it should no longer be necessary. 

4. Avoid mental as well as physical 
strain during menstruation, and this in- 
cludes worry, the sense of hurry, and giv- 
ing free sway to the emotions. Eemember 
the intimate relation that exists between 
the nervous system and functioning organs, 
and the influence that our thoughts exert 
upon the body. 

5. Guard against becoming chilled be- 
fore, during and immediately after men- 
struation. Take no chances when it is 
nearly due, in the way ol sea bathing, cold 
plunges, etc. AJways consider the date of 
its recurrence in making plans for un- 
usual activity. 

6. Do not permit yourself to regard this 
function as a burden and a cause for un- 
happiness. Eather be thankful for the as- 
surance that it gives of normal organs and 
pelvic health. 

194 



LETTER ELEVEN 

What can be done to relieve pain when 
it comes? That depends upon the cause, 
which varies in different individuals, as 
you can readily understand. On general 
principles it may be said that the recum- 
bent position is demanded and the appli- 
cation of heat to relax muscular spasm. 
That modern comfort in pain anywhere — 
the hot-water bag — here comes into good 
service, and, if it does not give prompt re- 
lief, a handkerchief wet in spirit of cam- 
phor may be placed between the bag and 
the skin, being careful not to produce a 
blister. Copious draughts of very hot 
water, containing a preparation of Vibur- 
num Prunifolium or some other simple 
medicine, will generally give relief. The 
use of opiates and alcoholics at such time 
should be discouraged as the effect upon 
the general system, and the danger of ac- 
quiring the ''drug habit" are more serious 
than the pain itself. If these simple meas- 
195 



HEALTH AND HAPPINESS 

ures are not efficacious^ a physician slionld 
be summoned, and when the ''period" is 
over, an examination should be made to 
discover the cause of recurring pain. Do 
not let it go on indefinitely; permanent 
injury to the parts may result, and it is 
sure to limit your working power in a very 
serious manner. 

The ideal which I would place before 
you is a healthy, happy, painless girlhood 
and young womanhood, during which 
physical and intellectual development go 
hand in hand. Parents teachers and wise 
physicians may do their part toward 
bringing about this condition, but if you 
ignore the needs of the body, and wilfully 
or even ignorantly disregard the laws that 
God has made for its management, do not 
be surprized if pain and sickness are your 
portion, and if you find that life holds for 
you more of failure and disappointment 
than of success and happiness. 
196 



Letter Twelve 
BROOKLYN, NEW YORK 



197 



Letter Twelve 

Brooklyn, New York. 
My Dear Girls: 

This will have to be my last letter to 
you, for my vacation is over and in the 
life of a physician the time for letter- 
writing is difficult to find. I can not, how- 
ever, close without a few words upon a 
subject of the utmost importance to you 
individually, and more so, if possible, to 
society and the world at large. It refers 
to the relation which girls and women bear 
to boys and men. 

Our sex has passed through untold de- 
gradation and suffering since half-wild, 
primitive women, clasping new-born babes 
in their arms, sought shelter and safety 
in caves and even among the branches of 
199 



HEALTH AND HAPPINESS 

trees. It has come np through slavery 
and shame, through the dense darkness of 
ignorance to the noble position which is 
ours in the world to-day. 

Two lights have shone ujaon the upward 
path which our race has trod; that which 
radiated from the little child, and in the 
fullness of time, the life and teachings of 
Christ. It was the primitive child that 
lured his father back from the chase to 
his mother's side, and the needs of the 
child gave birth to the industries of the 
world. It was in the interests of the boy- 
child, so important to the state, that 
woman's life was first made other than 
that of a drudge and a slave. Then came 
the new religion. The teachings of Christ 
and His followers, more than all else, 
lifted woman to her place beside man, es- 
tablished upon a solid basis the system 
of single marriage and the sacredness of 
the home. Unchastity was denounced, as 
^00 



LETTER TWELVE 

all men and women should denounce it 
to-day, and yet Christ manifested a lov- 
ing tenderness and helpful kindness tow- 
ard those who had fallen by the way — 
which we would do well to imitate. 

Ah, girls, do you realize what a weary 
way woman has traveled to reach the 
place where at the marriage altar a man 
solemnly promises ''In the sight of God'' 
to love and cherish the one woman of his 
choice; to leave all others for her, and 
that, too, "as long as life shall last"? 
In view of all this there is a question I 
would earnestly ask you. What are you 
going to do with this precious inheritance 
of the ages! How are you going to fit 
yourselves to pass it on to the next gene- 
ration! 

In many respects men and women are 

different physically and mentally. Neither 

standing alone can carry on the world's 

work or elevate its standards. Together 

201 



HEALTH xVND HAPPINESS 

we stand or fall, and the interdependence 
is so intimate and so far-reaching, that 
whatever conserves the good of one sex 
also conserves that of the other, and the 
evil indulged in by one drags down both. 
If we are to advance or even hold that 
which we have gained, the time has fully 
come to throw aside the double standard 
of morals for the sexes, which came down 
from the old days of barbarism. 

Whatever is best for the child has proved 
to be best for the race, and whatever in 
morals is good and necessary for the 
child's mother is equally profitable to his 
father. When you marry, girls, therefore, 
be sure that the man you love has been 
taught this and will help you to teach it 
to your children. Thus and thus only can 
the next step toward a higher and truer 
morality be taken. 

One word more. Have you ever thought 
that the man you will marry, if that hap- 
202 



LETTER TWELVE 

piness is ever yours, is somewhere in the 
world to-day and is being influenced by 
the girls and women with whom he asso- 
ciates f Since he is to be the home-maker 
with whom you are to cooperate and the 
father of your children, I am sure you 
hope that every influence which surrounds 
him will be good and pure and helpful. 
Because of this, in all your relations with 
boys and men, be to them in every respect 
what you wish other girls to be to him 
who will be the supreme one in your life 
some day. Impersonate and promote pu- 
rity and ever remember the words of the 
Master to the multitude of men, women 
and children upon the mountain-side of 
Gallilee, ''Blessed are the pure in heart, 
for they shall see God." 

With loving, good wishes, believe me 

your friend, 

Eliza M. Moshek. 



BOOKS FOR GIRLS 



How to Win 



A Charming Book for Girls 

By Miss Frances E. Willard, with an 
Introduction by Miss Rose E. Cleveland, 
Square 12mo, cloth. Price, $1.00, post-free. 

Partial Contents: 



Why I Wrote of Winning; 

I am Little, but I am I ; 

Aimless Reverie vs. a 
Resolute Aim ; 

The New Profession ; 

The New Ideal of Woman- 
hood; 

The New Ideal of Man- 
hood; 

The Beautiful ; 

The Decalogue of Natural 
Law; 



The Law o\ Habit ; 

How do you Treat your 

Laundress? 
Novel Reading ; 
Woman's Opportunity in 

Journalism; 
At what Age shall Girls 

Marry? 
To the Young Women's 

Christian Temperance 

Unions ; 
Unity of Purpose. 



" This book will be eagerly welcomed by a multi- 
tude of girls, and can not fail to do them good."— 
Woman's Journal, Boston. 

"It breatlies the best thoughts and the noblest 
emotions of its gifted author. As a volume to be 
placed in the hands of the young, it possesses great 
v&lne.""— Central Baptist, St. Louis. 

'• We cordially recommended ' How to Win ' to 
our fair readers. It will please, it will inform them 
on many important subjects, and in all they will find 
unexpected and inestimable profit." — National Re- 
publican, Washington, D. C. 



FUNK&WAGNALLS COMPANY, Publishers, 

New York and London 



" There is a world of sense and practical truth, in 
3 valuable book."— 7%e Brooklyn Eagle. 



k Bundle of Letters 
To Busy Girls. 

By MISS GRACE E. DODGE, 

{Member of the Neiv York Board of Education). 



" These Twelve Letters are all on ' Practical Mat- 
ters ' which enter into the life of all our ' Girls.' . . . 
All is subordinated to produce wise, practical, and 
much-needed instruction, in plain, conimou-sense. 
brief, and wonderfully effective words. They are in- 
deed a model. The author, as one of the ' Guls,' puts 
herself on their level, and speaks in their language, 
and voices their feelings, wants, and trials, ^othilig 
could be more wisely done, for the object in view. 
The little book can not fail to do g^eat good to 
the class of girls for whom it has been prepared. Let 
it be circulated."— T/^e Cliristian Observer, Louisville. 

" Some philanthropic person ought to see this book 
put into the hands of thousands of school and shop 
girls throughout the country. It would be a bit of 
philanthropy that would bear more moral fruit than 
often comes from the charitable endeavor.'" — T?ie 
Journal of Education., Boston. 

"No class of girls can be more usefully employed 
than in reading and discussing the points suggested 
in this excellent hook."''— Woman's Journal, Boston. 

"It is one of the best and most helpful books I 
ever read. It is written with charming directness and 
simplicity."— " Jo^iaA Allen'' s Wife.'''' 



i6mo. Cloth. Price, 50 Cents. Half Cloth, Fancy 
5ides, Uncut Edges, $1.00. Post=free. 



Funk & Wagnalls Company, 44-60 E. 23d St., New York. 



The Transfiguration 
of Miss Philura 

By FLORENCE MORSE KINGSLEY 

Author of "Balm in Gilead," " The Return of 
Caroline," "The Needle's Eye," etc. 

A CLEVER STORY based on the 
theory that every physical need and every 
desire of the heart can be claimed and re- 
ceived from the "Encircling Good" by 
the true believer . Miss Philura is enchant- 
ed with this creed, adopts it literally, and 
obtains thereby various blessings of par- 
ticular value including a husband. 

"A dainty little story, and quite out of the com- 
mon.'"— Daili/ Eveti'uig Telegraph, Philadelphia.. 

"Very bright and captivating." — Brooklyn Eagle. 

"This delightful little book ought to be read aloud 
that it may contribute to the common enjoyment of 
the family. It is too good to be enjoyed selfishly 
alone."— C'An.s-^ion Register., Boston. 

"The story is very bright, cheery, and original."— 
Presbyter-Herald, Cincinnati, O. 

" A precious little story that leaves a pleasant mem- 
ory. ""—Cleveland Plain Dealer. 

" It is delicious reading. A delicate and demure hu- 
morisits dominant characteristic. "—aS'<. LwjIs Peptiblic- 

Small 12mo. Cloth, 40 cents 

De Luxe Edition, printed in two colors on India 

tint paper, 4 colored illustrations by Ethel 

Pennewill Brovirn, with ornamental 

cover, $1.00 net; by mail 1.10. 



FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY 

44-60 East 23cl Street, New York 



JUL 23 1912 



w: 



HAT Our Girls 
Ought to Know. 

By MAEY J. STUDLET, M.D. 

Graduate, Eesident Physician and Teacher of the 

Natural Sciences in the State Normal School, 

Framingham, Mass.; also Graduate of the 

Woman's Medical College, N. Y. 

12mo, Cloth, 261 pp. Price, $1, Postpaid. 

Partial Contents: A Sunny House; Best Hours for 
Sleep; Brain and Nerves ; Carlyle on Clothes; Causes 
of Disease; Cleanliness; Clothing the Feet; Close- 
fitting Undergarments; Hygiene of the Skin; The 
Mate and the Home; Nerves and Nervousness; The 
Use of Sewing-machines; Self -Development; Time to 
Marry; How to Cook; What to Eat; What Causes 
Cold Feet; What Causes Varicose Veins; What 
Causes Palpitation, 

The authoress, Mary J. Studley, M.D., was a physi- 
cian of large practise and great success. 

Parents, Teachers, Clergymen and others, who have 
the education of girls, or who have occasion to ad- 
dress them in sermon or lecture, will find this book 
"crammed with usefulness." 

"Every sensible mother will wish to place a book 
like this in her daughter's hands.'''— School Journal, 
New York. 

"It derives its principal value from the fact that 
Dr. Studley was a firm believer in the possibility and 
duty of so regulating the details of every-day life as to 
secure and preserve physical health and vigor, and 
that such a course is essential as a foundation in the 
higher moral and intellectual development."— .Boston 
Woman'' s Journal. - 

FUNK & WAGNALLS COnPANY, Publishers, 
44-60 East 23d Street. New York 



ii:;~SSS5^ 



